Iberian Lynx - A Conservation Success Story
Updated: 5 days ago
At the turn of century, the population of Iberian Lynx was less than 100 individuals. Conservation efforts since then have increased to over 2,400 animals. Dedicated breeding centres established a robust captive population, allowing hundreds of lynxes to be safely reintroduced into the wild across Spain and Portugal; this captive breeding programme was combined with habitat restoration and rebuilding the rabbit (the main prey of the Iberian Lynx) population.
One of the centres involved in the conservation programme is the Gato Clavo in the Sierra de Andújar. Julia and I visited the centre with Marc Humphrey Photography for five days in early September, with three other tour participants.
Gato Clavo provides an excellent base for photographing Iberian Lynx. The centre provides accommodation in twin or single rooms (some with en-suite) and catering facilities. There are three hides - one which can accommodate upto eight people and two offering low-level views (with room for 4 people). The hides have air-conditioning and open views, no glass or scrim. The main hide also has toilet facilities.
Each day started with a quick breakfast before heading to the hides (about 100m from the accommodation) for a 7am start. We spent around four hours in the hide(s) before heading back to the accommodation for a rest and a three-course lunch at 1pm. Then an opportunity to review and edit images (or wander around the accommodation to photograph other wildlife) before preparing a pack-up tea of sandwiches to eat in the hides. We went back to the hides between 5pm and 6pm for an evening session. Flood-lights came on a at dusk, so we could continue to watch and photograph Iberian Lynx until 11pm or later if we wished. Julia and I did nine sessions in the hides. One morning Marc drove us to local river and dam, where we watched hundreds of Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin feeding over the river.
Wildlife photography is unpredictable - the Iberian Lynx were never guaranteed, some sessions we drew a blank, but we had success on most visits to the hides. Two Iberian Lynx, a male called Viento and female called Tanzanito, visited the hides. Viento is the younger brother to Tanzanito; occasionally they would both be present. Male Iberian Lynx have a broader rounder head than females, so with practice, it was possible to distinguish the two.
Quite often Viento would appear from between the hides, and then spend some time resting on the rocks, quietly looking for a Rabbit. He would spend quite some time just looking, waiting for his opportunity to pounce.
Naturally we took lots of photographs and a few videos!
The floodlighting came on at around 9pm and was turned off at day-break - providing some great back-lighting:
A drinking pool just outside of the hide, allowed close views of the Iberian Lynx as they drank:
Rabbits were ever present at the hides, the main reason that the Iberian Lynx visited the area:
The pool also attracted several birds, as did the numerous moths to be found around the lights:
Short-toed Treecreeper Stonechat Stonechat Stonechat Stonechat Spotted Flycatcher Rock Bunting Rock Bunting Rock Bunting Iberian Magpie Blackbird Blue Rock Thrush
Other wildlife around the centre included three species of darter - Desert, Red-veined and Common - and also Large Psammodromus and Iberian / Andalusian Wall Lizard:
Ant sp. carrying a dead moth Red-veined Darter Desert Darter Large Psammodromus Large Psammodromus Large Psammodromus
The morning away from the hides was spent at Presa de El Encinarejo, along the Jandula River, where Red-rumped Swallow flocks provided some bird-in-flight photography:
Want to see more Iberian Lynx images? Pop over to my flickr site for some more photos.
We can whole-heartedly recommend Marc Humphreys for this trip and are bound to return to get more shots, especially of the Iberian Lynx hunting.
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