Now I can Die!

I always said that I can’t die till I’ve seen a Lynx for real and early this morning this battle scarred old man, walked in front of my car into the forest in our village. Fortunately I’d gone back home for my camera and the 300mm lens and put it in the boot before setting off to ski. I parked the car and managed to get the camera out of the boot, changing the settings as I tried to walk silently behind the Lynx (his rear end in extra and a cropped version of the main so you can easily see he has lost part of his left ear and is probably blind in his right eye). I broke a branch underfoot and he turned to look at me! I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest, these are big animals, adult males are up to 28kg and they kill and eat big roe deer. Right now it is the mating season till mid April. Usually Lynx are nocturnal but can be active during the day if they are looking for a mate. I clearly wasn’t what he was looking for! 


Lots more information on this website, https://www.kora.ch/en/species/lynx/profile

I’m still buzzing and it’s 8 hours since I saw him! I’ll be out there listening for his calls this evening …


Thanks to all the Blippers who gave me information on yesterday’s Teals which are Eurasian teal (AKA green-winged teal) apparently.