Weedon’s World
Mike has once more been on his travels, this time to southern Spain, where the birds were great, but the mammals were even better!
The birds were great, but the mammals were better, on Mike’s trip to Spain
In early March, I spent a few rainy days in Andalucía, southern Spain, and our group were treated to some superb wildlife action. Birds included Spanish (aka Iberian) Imperial Eagles; Black, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures; Lesser Kestrels and Black-shouldered Kites. We watched giant male Great Bustards turning themselves inside out; Great Spotted Cuckoos galore; oodles of Iberian Green Woodpeckers and Azure-winged Magpies; and hundreds of nesting White Storks. There were all the wetland birding delights that Coto Doñana has to offer, from Cranes, through Purple Swamphens, and Purple Herons, through Spoonbills and Glossy Ibises, Marsh Sandpipers. You get the picture… But, despite the birding riches on offer, it was mammals which once more stole the show. In fact I saw three species of mammal which I had never seen in Europe before. The first was at a site called Fuente de Piedra, which has a mix of larger and smaller lakes and is somewhat famous for its large number of Greater Flamingos. I was sitting in one of the hides watching Red-rumped Swallows trying to balance on reed stems, when I noticed a small flock of about eight or so Spanish Sparrows feeding on the ground by the side of the little lake. Just as I was enjoying these little beauties, what I took to be a largish grey domestic cat came trotting up toward the sparrows. But it wasn’t a cat at all, but an Egyptian Mongoose. I didn’t even know there were any mongooses in Europe. But there is a population in southern Iberia, which is hugely distant from the nearest population, in northern Libya. Apparently, once thought to have been introduced to Iberia during Moorish times, some modern molecular studies have suggested that they dispersed naturally into Iberia during the Late Pleistocene (ie more than 100,000 years ago). Either way, it was very exciting to see my first European mongoose! The second of the mammals which I saw for the first time in Europe we encountered in the north of Andalucía, at Sierra de Andujar Natural Park. It was Wild Boar. In fact it was a mother with a litter of eight tiny piglets, which must only have been a few days old. They were very close to the road and the mother was feeding on short grass on a little raised island cut off by a little ephemeral stream that the rain had just brought, and the stripy little boarlets were reluctant to cross. The final mammal of the trilogy was the big one. The mongoose and boar were chance encounters and bonuses during a day’s birdwatching. The third mammal was the reason we were spending so much time in the Sierra de Andujar Natural Park: Iberian Lynx. This is one of the rarest mammals in Europe. In fact there are only a few hundred individuals left, with most in Andalucía. Smaller than the more northern Eurasian Lynx, they are Rabbit hunters and have been terribly affected by the results of myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (in addition to general loss of habitat and a disturbing amount of road accidents). We spent most of the day exploring the Sierra de Andujar Natural Park. All through the day’s birding, we were slightly on edge, anticipating that at any time a lynx may appear. As it happens, the great event happened just when it was supposed to, in the late afternoon, when Rabbits and Iberian Lynxes start to get active. We were at a private property, known to be a good spot for the carnivores. Across the valley from where we waited, Rabbits were starting to appear in their partially artificial warren, looking tense, as if they knew very well they were being watched by more than distant telescopes. Great Spotted Cuckoos were chattering, Little Owls yelping. A pre-roost gathering of more than a hundred Azure-winged Magpies started flying towards the bushes near the warren. Then the cry went out: “Lynx! Down there near the dry stone wall!”. And sure enough, a beautiful male Iberian Lynx appeared, complete with ocelot-like coat, bobbed tail, a great ruff of a ‘beard’ and curly-tipped ears. He walked a couple of paces, then sat down like a huge domestic moggy. Then he strode out on long muscular legs towards the Rabbit bushes, wagging his bobbed tail. Lynxes are so rare, they are known by name. This male was called Henasco, eight years old and one of the most exciting mammals I have seen anywhere in the world!
The final mammal of the trilogy was the big one... Iberian Lynx