The road to the Encinarejo reservoir and the tracks around it are the classic lynx ground. Cats use the scrub edges and the open dehesa, and are most active at dawn and dusk in winter, when the mating season makes them vocal and mobile.

The Jándula valley and the La Lancha road are the other established watching areas, with pull-offs where the regulars gather. Fellow watchers are generally generous with information — ask.

The dehesa and rocky slopes hold the supporting cast: red and fallow deer, mouflon, wild boar in family parties, and the Spanish imperial eagle — another species that came close to extinction and now breeds here.

The vulture cliffs and reservoir hold griffon and black vultures, black storks in season, and otters in the river below.

The rabbit population is the whole reason the lynx are here, and the reason the species collapsed elsewhere when disease wiped rabbits out — understanding that makes what you are watching more interesting.

December to February is the peak lynx season, during the mating period when cats move most and call. Spring adds flowers, breeding raptors and long days.

Practicalities

Andújar is the base town, a couple of hours from Córdoba or Granada. A car is essential and a telescope makes an enormous difference — most sightings are at several hundred metres.

Local guides know current territories and have scopes, and materially improve the odds over a first-time visitor scanning blind. Stay in your vehicle at sightings and never follow a cat on foot; the population here is small and its tolerance of people is what makes the viewing possible.