9th-10th – Return to Adamuz and home

With the three hide visits done it was time to return to Malaga so I could fly home the following day, though the trip back would be with a small detour.

The lynx hides have the extra service that if you don’t see a lynx during your booked visit you will be able to get a heavily discounted extra visit if there is availability to be found. So the first place had contacted my guide, and while he wouldn’t be able to put me in another lynx hide he had a spot in one of his eagle hides, more precisely the hide to see bonelli’s eagle. And I got that for free. So instead of sleeping in on the return day we left early to get to Adamuz on time (as Adamuz was near Cordoba it was on the way to Malaga anyway so it didn’t affect the return trip much). 

 

Bonelli’s eagle.

On location I was put into a hide for 6 people with a Spanish couple. We were setting up while the owner was spreading chunks of chicken out on strategically placed trunks lying around close in front of the hide, in an otherwise empty and open grass field. We would be there from 1000 to app. 1200 – not very long but we were told that if it didn’t turn up within half an hour they wouldn’t show up. Apparently a couple was roosting nearby so the changes of seeing at least one of them should be pretty high.

  

We were left alone and the staring into the open commenced. It didn’t take long before a large shadow suddenly went past on the ground, and before I realized what it was a bonelli’s eagle landed right in front of us on a branch and spent the next 5-10 minutes moving around picking out pieces of chicken and seemingly having a great time. And with a piece still only half swallowed it flew away. I was sitting thinking that that viewing was a great end of a trip, and only a few minutes later a shadow passed before the other eagle came and dealt with the rest of the chicken. It ended up being a fun double feature, and for the remainder of the time there we were entertained by birds you’d normally see on a field. Not quite like the eagles but there was still plenty to look at.

 

 

From there I got picked up by my guide and we drove back to Malaga where I was delivered to my hotel and we went our separate ways. And thus ended an excellent tour. Of course, I would have liked lynxes daily and all day, but realistically I got few but excellent viewings so I don’t have much to complain about. It will be a bit before I return again, having my thirst somewhat satiated for now.

Full album can be seen here.

8th – Peñalajo cheese factory

The last hide day was a bit further away again going north, a small hide on the property of a cheese factory, in what seemed like absolutely nowhere. The hide was basically a metal box with room for two seats and nothing else – you were given an “emergency toilet” which is a resealable bag with a thickening agent inside and room for app. 700ml fluids. That’s it. Cross your fingers you don’t need more room or need to... do more. Luckily I was alone in the hide. The hide itself was nicely lowered so that the one-way glass was at ground height.

Another person in yesterday’s hide mentioned that she had used this hide in the summer which was no fun at all. Sitting in a metal box in the Spanish heat was quite the challenge; at one point she had to tell the other person in the hide, whom she hadn’t met until they had been allocated the hide, that she was sorry but she would have to strip down to her underwear as the heat was unbearable. I without a doubt preferred the cooler late winter/early spring, even if I was alone.

So my guide drove me to the main building where the owner took over and drove me out to the hide. I settled in and got my bearings while the owner removed the protective coverings from the windows and spread out some bird seed in the vicinity. He popped his head in when he was done to make sure everything was ok before he left me alone for the next 10-11 hours. 

I was still focused on the finishing touches of getting my camera ready when I thought I saw some movement out the corner of my eye. I looked up and confirmed that there had been a bit of movement, turned my attention back to my camera to hold on wait was that a yes it was a lynx what I am doing?! Looked back up and turned my camera around; a lynx had come out from some shrubbery, I’m assuming curious about the noise when I was settling in and the owner removing the panels in front of the window. It sat there a few minutes looking around before slinking back away. Moments later it reappeared and crossed the open area in front of the hide before disappearing again. 

 

And that was the last I saw of that. Birds of various kinds throughout the day, and even a hare in the afternoon (I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for a lynx to jump out grabbing it. Come on – it’s food right there!). Overall a good day, though the start did raise the expectations for the rest of the day a bit too high. 

Red-legged partridge.

 

Pheasant.

7th – Andújar

The second hide was located just outside Andújar so it was nothing but a 10-ish minute drive to get there. But we started already at seven in the morning so there was no sleeping in. This wasn’t a full day thing, rather you’re there from 0700-1200 and 1500-1800, as there is no lynx expected in the middle of the day due to the heat. Mornings and evenings are the best odds due to the temperature (and, being cats, they have no intention making it easy for us in any way) so that was when the hide was active. This was a huge hide with room for 7 people with plenty of room in the back and a toilet, and no glass between us and the outside, and large floodlights lighting up a fairly large area outside.

Also, they had had sightings daily the last 12 days. So I decided to be carefully optimistic. 

My guide didn’t stay as the place was fully booked, so we sat 7 tourists scouting for a cat that hopefully would bless us with its presence. The hide in Adamuz had a small webcam installed just under the windows and around 1000 I received a message from my guide who sent me a 1-minute clip from it showing a lynx passing by, jumping up on the raised platform and giving some serious close views from the hide. I informed him afterwards that while I enjoyed the video I would have preferred him not send it to me. It was simply too painful to watch. But wildlife watching is all about being at the right place at the right time. 

 

The morning watch gave nothing but a few birds and you could start to feel the tension building in the hide in the afternoon. At around closing time the owner came by and whispering told us that we would get an extra hour as a lynx had been seen lurking around on his (extensive) property and it usually walked by the hide when it came from that specific direction. That got peoples’ attention and everybody tensed up. Silently, of course. 

My guide seemed to have talked with the owner about my bad luck with seeing lynxes so suddenly the owner snuck up behind me and whispered just loud enough so everybody could hear to follow him as the lynx was standing just outside the door so I quickly disconnected my camera as fast and quietly I could from the tripod and hurried after him. Standing just outside the doorway he told me it was close and waved his flashlight. Looking out for a wild cat close I was focusing at 10 meters and beyond and couldn’t see a damn thing. It turned out that when he said close he meant close – the lynx was standing on a rock less than 3 meters away, not minding at all that it was being shined in the face by the flashlight. I got off a long line of eager photos before turning around to leave room for others and saw the rest climbing on top of each other all trying to see out the door.

 

 A few meters away, not minding being lighted up.

Moving inside the lynx suddenly starting moving and everyone rushed back into the hide and we got to spend a few minutes watching the lynx passing by the hide in a steady pace. It moved from left to right and it soon disappeared up and behind us. Thinking it over it showed up a minute or so later with a rabbit hanging from its mouth, slowly moving out of the floodlights with it’s newly acquired dinner. A wholly successful night!

4th-6th of February – return to South Spain, Andújar and Adamuz

Coming home from my last trip to Malaga and the not-so-successful hunt for the Iberian lynx I had made up my mind that I would return some day and try another more focused photo tour trying to increase my odds to see the elusive cat. And apparently it didn’t take more than a few weeks to make up my mind, and on the 4^th of February, less than two months after the last trip I boarded a plane and flew back down to Malaga.

I spent a night in Malaga before getting picked up the following morning by my guide and we drove off to Andújar, the same place we used as a base last time. Arriving around noon we grabbed lunch and drove out like we did last and had a wander, trying to find the lynx in the usual hotspots as last. To the surprise of no one we didn’t see a single lynx during that afternoon.

Early next morning we drove west to Adamuz, close to Cordoba. Here I had a spot in a hide just outside of town for the entire day. We (my guide and I) got picked up by the hide’s owner in town who drove us the 10 minutes out to the hide. The hide was big enough for two people to sit comfortable with a toilet in a back room and another larger room with cots – though that room didn’t seem to be used very much.

 

Red robin. 

The hide had one-way glass to the forested area outside where we would be looking for interesting wildlife (as in lynx). The hide was at ground level but a few meters from the hide there was a raised platform with the same height as the window. The owner spread bird seed out around and left us to ourselves. 

 Eurasien blackcap.

Throughout the day we were visited by numerous birds being lured to the hide by the seeds, and with the elevated platform you got them close with them seeing you so you got to experience them undisturbed. And while many birds were ones you’d see anywhere else – or variants of them – it was nice being able to see them as close as we did.

 European greenfinch.

Around noon the owner came by with lunch packs, spread out more seeds and my guide joined him back to town, leaving me for the afternoon. That was probably the wildest action going on throughout the day, so needless to say there were no trace of lynx.

House sparrows.