Spain Day 5 Back to the Lynx Watchpoint

Monday 25th

A reasonably early start for breakfast, with the usual aw magpies raiding the bins. We met a group of dutch people and exchanged nos. After collecting our bocadillos we set off into the mountains for our last day. Weather glorious but cold, 1.5 C.

We stopped at Los Escoriales, finding 2 hoopoe, rock sparrow, Thekla Lark and mistle thrush, as well as some distant Moufflon and the local fighting bulls. 

 We carried on up, pausing to watch some Fallow Deer with antlered males and then found our usual spot and settled down, scanning up and down the valleys. The was a noticeable lack of birds compared to past days, apart from a huge feeding scrum of vultures on a distant valley side.  Dartford warblers and Sardinian warblers were singing and a robin hopped about, but not the throng of birds of prey we had had on Saturday.

A break down to the dam where we had another look at the bats and watched golden eagle displaying over the opposite hillside before we returned for our last vigil. After about an hour or so a small group turned up and 15 minutes later one of them spotted a lynx strolling along the track opposite. Just after one of us commented that he wanted to see lynx walking down this track!

We watched this male stroll along the track and then make a leisurely walk down the valley, stopping to sniff and spray as he went. It went behind a tree and disappeared for a short while but was then spotted to the right. It was chased out by a deer and ran across heading in our direction, it then went out of site beneath the bluff. It was picked up later as it walked across a clearing and into some trees but finally disappeared and not relocated. We watched for a while longer before heading back, calling into the Villa Mathilde to say hello before carrying on down to LP for dinner and bed.