La Lancha, Sierra de Andújar Park Natural, Jaen, Spain.

Our last day up at the shelter.

Ebird List for La Lancha.

 

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus).

We were up and after Breakfast we made our way out to the usual spot on La Lancha for the last time this trip, soon after arriving I went for a short walk which turned out to be even shorter than expected when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye as a medium sized mammal disappeared into a Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) bush but I wasn't sure what it was.

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) with the Rabbit.

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) after coming out from under the rock behind it where he had lost the Rabbit.

I was close enough to get Lynn and Steve over and we all watched the bush but it still took us a while to confirm it was a Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) not the species I had hoped for but this guy kept us entertained for what must have been an hour in total.

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) resting after loosing the Rabbit.

He came out of the bush and then dropped down the hill slightly where it caught a young Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus) but spent too much time playing with it, it managed to escape and hide under a large rock, not wanting to give up it's breakfast the Fox spent a long while digging under the bolder but eventually went up on top of it and just lay down which was when we left it to chill and returned to the shelter.

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) as he approached us along the road.

Lynn and I stayed there and Steve went for a walk in the opposite direction, after a while I looked back down the track to where we had been standing and the Fox was trotting towards us, when he saw me he froze for a second but then just kept coming and went right passed us and down to within a couple of meters of Steve who was walking back towards us. 

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) as he started to head off up the bank.

We thought he must be getting some great shots be his battery had gone flat on him just at the wrong moment as mine had yesterday but as it happened it didn't matter as the Fox allowed us to return to where he was and he just lay there less that 3 meters away.

Red Fox (Zorro / Vulpus vulpus) as he had one last look back at us before disappearing into the bushes.

After a while he got up and went off up the bank searching for it's next meal, it was an extremely which gave us some incredible views and kept us totally enthralled until it continued on it's way.  

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus).

Other species seen before we headed off back to the house included Cinereous (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus) and Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus), Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aguila Imperial Ibérica / Aguila adalberti), Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Gavilán Común / Accipiter nisus), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla Común / Upupa epops), Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito ibérico / Picus sharpei), Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis), Eurasian Jay (Arrendajo Euroasiático / Garrulus glandarius), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax), European Crested Tit (Herrerillo Capuchino / Lophophanes cristatus), Woodlark (Alondra Totovía / Lullula arborea), Eurasian Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Dartford Warbler (Curruca Rabilarga / Curruca undata), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), 8222a Lythria sanguinaria and Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus).

8222a Lythria sanguinaria.

At around 16:00 we started to make our way back to the house and we got there just before dark.