I spent a couple days in far northern Honshu; the weather was great and in some low-elevation areas almost every tree in the forest was in bloom – those slopes looked really spectacular. Saw one serow at 40.505629N 140.820258E. The best place for night walks is Oraise Gorge (40.53317N 140.97493E); in one night I saw True’s shrew-mole, J. weasel, masked palm civet (introduced), J. giant flying squirrel, large and small J. mice, and Anderson’s red-backed vole. Looks like rodent numbers in Honshu are picking up after a slump of last fall. Fields near forest edges were completely dug up by J. field voles, and numerous predators were hunting them at night; with a thermal imager I saw dozens of red foxes and raccoon dogs, two distant badgers, and one marten along Akita Hwy south of Lake Towada. Japanese squirrel was common, even in isolated clumps of trees and on brushy slopes; try Towada Shrine (40.434306N 140.893629E).
I checked out Ryusen-do Cave (39.860205N 141.796921E, 8:30-17:00 Nov-Apr, 8:30-18:00 May-Oct., iwate-ryusendo.jp). I was thee at night so the main entrance was closed, but I explored a side entrance about 20 m to the left (accessible by climbing a short switchbacking trail) and saw J. long-eared bats, plus lots of greater and least horseshoe bats.
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Polar Bears on the Edge: new book and fundraising campaign
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, North American, 0
Morten Joergensen, who was with me in Ladakh on our snow leopard expedition last year, is passionate about the...
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Predator Watching in Finland
nesta, , Europe and the Palearctic, Finland, 12
I have still not given up hope to return to Africa in July this year. However, “hope for the...
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African Wolves
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, 0
Some news about wolf sightings in Morocco and Algeria http://moroccanbirds.blogspot.com/2012/08/African-Wolf-discovered-in-Morocco.html Jon
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New Trip Report – Lynxes in Sweden
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, 2
Until a a week ago a pair of Eurasian Lynxes had been seen daily for 3 weeks or so...
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Israel Wolf and Hyena
Nick Littlewood, , Europe and the Palearctic, 8
Hi all, I’ve just re-discovered this site, having not visited it for some time, and found out what a...
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New Trip Reports: Spain
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, 0
Two more photo-filled reports from Janco van Gelderen Spain, 2015 & 16: Janco van Gelderen, accounts of two trips...
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Leopard (yes Leopard not Snow Leopard) at Qinghai, China
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, Oriental, China, 2
This is interesting! This piece was sent to me by Sid Francis in Chengdu. It was written by his...
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Beaked Whales off of the UK and Ireland
Jon Hall, , Europe and the Palearctic, 0
True’s Beaked Whales spotted off of Ireland and a Sowerby’s Beaked Whale strands in the Scottish Hebrides Jon
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