Redes Natural Park in Autumn: Beeches, the Deer Rut, Mushrooms and Shorter Days

In autumn Redes Natural Park changes with the colour of its beech woods and the deer rut, heard in late September and early October, especially at dawn and dusk. To see it, Turismo Asturias suggests the Riu Mediu at Orllé, the Tabayón del Mongayu, the Arrudos and the Ruta del Alba.

Redes Natural Park covers the municipalities of Caso and Sobrescobio, and the official leaflet for its Biosphere Reserve puts it plainly: autumn is one of its finest seasons, for the colour of the woods and because it is the time of the deer rut. Here is what changes from September to November, with what the official sources say and also what they do not.

Where to stay here: Apartamento con vistas en Santa María · From 45 € per night + cleaning fee →

A park of beeches

Mature woodland covers a third of the Redes Biosphere Reserve, with more than ten well-preserved types, and beech wood is the most typical, alongside oak woods, Pyrenean oak, birch and mixed riverside woods, according to its official leaflet. It is the beeches that change the landscape when the cold arrives.

Turismo Asturias presents autumn as the loveliest season for walking its hills, for the mild weather and the turning leaves. What we have not found is an official date for peak colour: no body publishes one, and it varies from year to year.

The deer rut

In late September and early October you can hear the roaring of red deer stags during the hinds' rutting season, especially at dawn and dusk, according to the Biosphere Reserve leaflet. The guided rut outing in Redes advertised by Turismo Asturias runs from 15 September to 15 October and starts at around 6:00, while it is still dark.

You do not have to go far to hear it: Turismo Asturias also counts it among Laviana's autumn spectacles, at the mouth of the valley, and the guide to what to see in Pola de Laviana and around covers what is there. The visitor code in the park's 2006 management plan asks people to watch animals without disturbing them, not to feed them and to use binoculars rather than getting too close.

Mushrooms: better to look

We have not found any regional rule setting how many mushrooms a visitor may pick in Redes. The park's management instrument, approved by Decreto 162/2014 and published in the BOPA on 5 January 2015, does not mention them. The visitor code in the previous management plan, Decreto 48/2006, asked people to leave plants, flowers, mushrooms and fruit where they were and not to collect without permission, and reminded them that all land has an owner.

That same plan reserved the gathering of medicinal plants and wild fruit such as bilberries for local residents, and only for their own use. If you want to pick anything, ask first at the park's interpretation centre.

Less light

On Sunday 25 October 2026, at 3:00, the clocks go back an hour, according to Orden PCM/186/2022 in the BOE: from that day it gets dark an hour earlier by the clock. In the gorges you notice it more, because the rock walls cut out the light before sunset, as explained in the guide to Redes walks by effort.

The park's Centro de Recepción e Interpretación, at Prau la Feria in El Campu, opens at weekends from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 15:00 to 18:30, and is free, according to Turismo Asturias, checked in October 2026; the same listing warns that hours change with the season and asks you to confirm by phone. It is the place to ask about the state of the paths, as the centre itself gives information on the routes and their rules.

The walks that show it best

Turismo Asturias picks four for autumn. The Riu Mediu valley walk, at Orllé (Caso), is a circuit of just over 7 kilometres, about 600 metres of climb and about 3 hours, through beech woods. The Tabayón del Mongayu walk starts from Tarna, also a circuit, about 12 kilometres, 600 metres of climb and 3 to 4 hours, and crosses the Monte Saperu beech wood to a waterfall of about 60 metres.

The other two are the Arrudos, from Caleao to La Fontona or Lake Ubales, and the Ruta del Alba, about 14 kilometres there and back from Soto de Agues, which Turismo Asturias rates as suitable for children; for doing it with them there is the guide to the Ruta del Alba with children. Further up the valley, at Vega Pociellu, the Los Abedulosos slope turns colourful in autumn, and the Deboyu cave looks its best with the woods gone golden.

Autumn fairs

The regional government's 2026 calendar of livestock shows, updated on 24 July, lists in Campo de Caso a livestock show on 8 October, the Feria de Octubre on the 9th and a livestock fair on 1 November, and in Soto de Agues, in Sobrescobio, a goat contest and show of Carranzana and Latxa sheep on 29 November. That calendar is on its sixth revision and has fairs suspended in other municipalities, so check it before going.

The Certamen del Quesu Casín, on the other hand, is not an autumn event: Turismo Asturias places it on the last Saturday of August.

Checked

Facts checked in October 2026 with: the Redes Biosphere Reserve leaflet (naturalezadeasturias.es), Turismo Asturias (Otoño en el Parque Natural de Redes: rutas para todos; Observación de la berrea en el Parque Natural de Redes; Centro de Recepción e Interpretación del Parque Natural de Redes; Laviana; Certamen del Quesu Casín), BOPA (Decreto 48/2006, II Plan Rector de Uso y Gestión, and Decreto 162/2014, I Instrumento de Gestión Integrado), BOE (Orden PCM/186/2022) and the Consejería de Medio Rural y Política Agraria (Certámenes ganaderos 2026, updated on 24 July).