A recording of a Wolf pack last visit to the Pine Forest (Martin Carlsson)
Last night, Craig, Martin, Heather and I went to look for the Wolf pack again. It was a really clear night so was really cold. Unfortunately we were unable to see any this visit, but we were able to find the pack again and we were lucky to find an alfa male with c5 puppies that were yapping away. It was quite strange to hear the power of a big male and then the, almost patheticness of the puppies yapping away.
My absolute highlight came from something that I really, really wasn't expecting... We were making wolf howls to get them to respond when we heard a deep 1/2 second long 'roar'. It was quite quiet and we guessed it must have been coming from the forest edge c150 meters away. It was reacting to our howl, and did so 6 times. I couldn't believe it when we realised it was actually coming from a male Lynx, and a big one at that!
Lynx are by far my favourite non-avian animal in the world and I would pretty much pay anything to see one in the wild. The fact that I was only c150 meters away from, and communicating with my favourite animal is just breathtaking. In a way, I am slightly glad that I didn't see the animal because it not only remains an almost mythical beast (or a CMF in birding terms), but it means I still have lots of things to acheive before I 'climb Everest'. Again, one of the best noises I've ever heard and was made even better by the wolves. A night to remember, yet again!
Freshly moulted 1st winter Thrush Nightingale
The weather was pretty miserable today, so we weren't able to do much ringing. It cleared up for a couple of hours this evening, so we attempted a swallow-catch at dusk. We weren't able to catch any swallows, but caught several Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, a single Thrush Nightingale, Willow Warbler and a Great Reed Warbler.
No comments:
Post a Comment