Alongside the villages there is always a mozaic of water meadows and cultivated fields. Water meadows are pastures that are principally used for providing hay, winter food for the cattle. These fields are generally irrigated by way of small narrow channels that help avoid frost damage to the plants during winter. Water meadows, when not regularly grazed, fall within habitat 6510 – ‘lameiros’, and have a high level of biodiversity. They are dominated by grasses such as Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. bulbosum or Agrostis x fouilladei. Important conservation species may also occur such as the wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp. nobilis), tongue orchids (Serapias lingua), asphodels (Paradisea lusitanica), wolf’s bane (Arnica montana) and knapweeds (Centaurea nigra subsp. rivularis).
At the level of fauna it is possible to find various rodent species, the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), mole (Talpa occidentalis), the little owl (Athene noctua), the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor), hoopoe (Upupa epops) and three toed skink (Chalcides striatus).