The river Arda runs about 30 miles and results from the confluence of Silvares and Gondim riverside with the Marialva river. After the junction of these three lines of water, the river Arda gets its name up stream of Burgo village. Crossing the Arouca valley and a part of Castelo de Paiva forest it is here, at Pedorido that Arda meets the waters of Douro. The Arda’s mouth is a superb natural and landscape value location, great for the practice of fishing and biodiversity interpretation, specially birdwatching. Emphasis on the Choupal of Concas as leisure area.
The surrounds of the Arda’s mouth is a place of rich biological diversity. Here we can see several species of river birds, especially the majestic common kingfisher and aquatic species as the mallard duck and the great cormorant. The otter, and amphibians as common toad, the natterjack toad, the marbled newt or the fire salamander, and dragonflies as the keeled skimmer, are also some of the species that we can find here. Following the banks of the Arda river are also present floristic species as the bay laurel, the lote tree, the common hawthorn and other riparian species such as the rush or the hemlock water dropwort. In the forest, quietly wander a variety of considerable fauna, with species such as the robin, the genet or the wild boar.
Near the river Arda’s mouth is the iron rail bridge of Pedorido, a great patrimonial value structure. This was built by the Portuguese Industrial Company, in 1893, to serve the minning reserve of Pejão, being an important testimony of one of the most important economic activities of the region’s history: coal exploration.
