19 September 2026

RFI: Spain in October

Hi all,

I’ll be in Madrid in early October, and will have time to go for 2 days (1-2 nights) for mammal watching.

I believe its too early for Lynx in Andujar and too late for Wildcats and Bears in northern Spain ? Any suggestions for alternative destinations within a few hour drive from Madrid ?

Thanks!

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Yonathan Perez
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12 Comments

  • 19 September 2026
    Eduardo Ruiz

    September/October is peak season to see iberian wolves in the Valdeon valley, you can contact Iñigo from Valdeon wild and check how this season is going as the wolf packs are starting to come out of the dens. One more thing is that i have always heard that brown bears in Somiedo and surroundings only hibernate a couple of months in Winter so if you are going in early October it might be worth asking, you can contact Dani from Monteotea for this if you are interested. Good luck!

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    • 20 September 2026
      Yonathan Perez

      Thanks Eduardo! Valedon and Somiedo are doable, but a bit far from Madrid for a 2-day trip and I’ve seen both wolves and brown bears well before, so I might aim for something different.

  • 20 September 2026
    CarlosBocos

    Hello Jonathan. I live in Valladolid and in october i Will be at home between the 17th and the 30th. I Will be Happy to take you around if you come along around those dates. Cheers

    1
  • 20 September 2026
    Jan Schaefer

    Hi Yonathan, you can see Iberian Ibex relatively close to Madrid. I have seen them in the Sierra de Gredos by parking at the Plataforma de Gredos and then walking a bit along the only trail in (Senda de la Laguna Grande). I have only ever been there in spring, but judging from inaturalist records they are seen year-round. There’s also a lot of records around La Pedriza in the Sierra de Guadarrama, but I have never looked for them there.

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  • 22 September 2026
    Lars Michael Nielsen

    I was at Gato Clavo last September and saw several lynx. I’ll actually go there tomorrow and if you’re itnerested I can give you an update fom there.

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    • 30 September 2026
      Yonathan Perez

      That’s what we decided to do after all. I’ll only have 1-1.5 days there – but hopefully luck will be on my side!

      • 30 September 2026
        Lars Michael Nielsen

        Hi Yonathan
        I got back yesterday. I had great wievs of two different lynxes in Gato Clavo. On the first night “Benito” caught two rabbits in front of us, second morning no lynx was around. On the second night we had close incouners with Benito, down to a couple of meters. He came up to the hide looking for a rat. Later Tanzanita came around and we saw them both at the same time and heard them communicating. My guess is that you’ll see them.

        Remember to go th the Jandula river to look for mammals there and the big dam for Ibex, Bats and other stuff.

    • 8 October 2026
      Yonathan Perez

      I ended up going to Sierra de Andujar. We only had one day at Gato Clavo – but got lucky in the evening with an excellent Lynx sighting!

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