A fortuitous encounter with an elusive feline
After his journey was held up by a lorry, James Hanlon's patience was rewarded with a sighting of a rare wild cat.
T hough it seemed a long shot, we had tagged on a trip to Spain’s Sierra de Andújar National Park in Andalucía – following a short birding trip to Extremadura – in the hope of an encounter with big game (by European standards). A cat to be precise – one of the world’s rarest.
The Iberian lynx has been drawing tourists to this area for years. The species can be encountered in certain locations with a combination of effort, patience and luck. A few days’ searching is considered the required investment of time, but even this will not guarantee a sighting. When I realised we had only given ourselves a day and a bit to find this elusive cat, I suspected a miscalculation had been made.
We scoured the area, marvelling at the local bird life, which included the Spanish imperial eagle. Our trip was drawing to a close and, out of desperation, I suggested a quick trip to one final viewpoint. We were travelling by car and cursed when a large truck pulled out in front of us, slowing our progress on the narrow road.
After several miles, we finally separated from the truck, turning right onto the main road that would take us to our destination. Just a few kilometres further on, an animal was lolloping along the road, moving away from our car. It suddenly dawned on the three of us that we were watching a tufty-eared, stubby-tailed, juvenile Iberian lynx.
Shaking, I grabbed my camera and managed to take a couple of shots before a car appeared ahead, bearing down on us and the feline, which reacted by turning and jumping up onto the high verge bank. We thought it must be crouching by the tall mesh fence, but when we managed to get closer, it was gone, and we soon found the hole it had slipped through.
Our eleventh-hour sighting had propelled our spirits into the stratosphere but it wouldn’t have happened without that truck. Road traffic is a serious threat to the Iberian lynx, so it seems fitting that, when time was against us, it was the day’s slow progress that got us our magical sighting.
JAMES HANLON is a field ecologist, author, photographer and writer. See jameshanlon.webflow.io
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