Wildcats Boca de Huergano (1 Viewer)

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Oct 2, 2017

• #1

Dear all

I was in Boca de Huergano as part of a longer trip to France and Spain this summer. Wildcats were pretty easy but this was just to make people aware that there is at least some hybridisation.

I saw two ones that looked pretty good but a fairly obvious hybird. I've seen one trip report where what looked to me to be the hybrid I saw was featured as a photo of a wildcat. This individual looked very good from behind. Presuming the attachements work okay, photos 1 and 2 are of what would appear to be a - at least fairly 'pure' wildcat. the next two of the hybrid.

Some details of the rest of the trip can be found here:

http://www.stevebabbs.com/home/trip-reports/2017franceandspain

Regards

Steve

 

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Julian Perry

Active member

• Oct 2, 2017

• #2

Hi Steve,

Trying to work out the purity of wild cats can be a real challenge nowadays as your photos well illustrate! We are lucky here in Bulgaria, as in the Bulgarian Mountains wild cats remain amongst the purest in Europe.

The face of the 'cat' in Photo 3 really doesn't seem to display the width and proportions one would associate with a pure wild cat, and the white spot you mention in your trip report, plus the extensive white around the mouth suggests to me significant hybridization in this specimen.

The shape and proportion of the head in your first photo looks much better, although again I don't like the extensive white on chin and upper lip; this is a typical sign of reduced purity.

I am unsure, if photo 2 is the same specimen as in the first, but my concern here is the tail. Instead of a distinct stubby black tip, then 2-3 clearly separated black stripes above, in your specimen the whole lower half of the tail appears to be dark with tip and lower stripes fused together.

I would also have liked to have seen some more distinct unbroken dark stripes on the flanks; they look quite faint and broken in the photo.

So to my eyes, all the cats in the photos show varying degrees of hybridization.

Hope that helps. Interested to see what others think.

 

P

pppppvvvv

Guest

• Oct 3, 2017

• #3

Looks like a good trip. How are you identifying the Grasshoppers and Crickets Steve? I can't find any suitable field guide for europe? Sorry to go off topic , Peter

 

A

aeshna5

Well-known member

• Oct 3, 2017

• #4

peter.jones said:

Looks like a good trip. How are you identifying the Grasshoppers and Crickets Steve? I can't find any suitable field guide for europe? Sorry to go off topic , Peter

Click to expand...

There is a guide in French (second edition appeared earlier this year) by Heiko Bellman + Gerard Luquat to the grasshoppers, crickets + locusts of Western Europe.

I did look at this at the AES fair at the weekend. Looks a good book with plenty of great photos but with my limited French its usefulness won't be that. Maybe an English version will appear at some point?

For Southern Europe + Med a new photo guide by Paul Brock appeared this week to the insects of that region. Though limited in the number of species featured from various orders it does cover many species that aren't featured in other guides so is filling the niche a bit. I hope to be using it in Spain next week.

 

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Oct 3, 2017

• #5

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sauterelle...06&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=guide+to+sauterelles

Well worth getting. It is all there is apart from this website: http://www.grasshoppersofeurope.com/ which isn't so easy to flick through. My French is limited to basic pleasantries and ordering alcohol so it can be frustrating and there are still plenty of species I haven't identified. Although generally I can identify the 'smart stuff' which is what I'm most worried about. My copy of Brock has just arrived too and I will be seeing if that helps with some of the things that I have failed on so far.

 

P

pppppvvvv

Guest

• Oct 5, 2017

• #6

Thanks both. I reckon the French book, and Google translate / mic could do it! A bit bizarre tho

 

Andy Adcock

Worst person on Birdforum

• Oct 6, 2017

• #7

This is OK Peter but obviously doesn't give full coverage.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grasshoppers-Crickets-Britain-Northern-Collins/dp/0002198525


A

 

P

pppppvvvv

Guest

• Oct 6, 2017

• #8

Merci Andy, mais j'ai ce couvert!

 

A

aeshna5

Well-known member

• Oct 6, 2017

• #9

andyadcock said:

This is OK Peter but obviously doesn't give full coverage.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grasshoppers-Crickets-Britain-Northern-Collins/dp/0002198525


A

Click to expand...

I bought this one years ago but probably of marginal use for many Spanish + southern species, though some of the more widespread species will be in it..

 

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Oct 6, 2017

• #10

This may win a prize for the most off topic thread but I have that one as well. It's by the same author and has many of the same photos but you don't have to travel far for - of even out of France - before fidning some pretty spectacular orthoptera that aren't in it.

 

P

pppppvvvv

Guest

• Oct 6, 2017

• #11

Again, thank you, and I really apologize for dragging this thread off on a perpendicular. Please no more grasshopper book posts, as I feel quite bad.

The Wildcat photos in the first post, whether they are pure or not, are really something. Definitely on my most wanted list.

 

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Oct 7, 2017

• #12

My comments were very tongue in cheek. It's good to find a fellow Orthoptera enthusiast. The Somiedo/Picos area is defintely recommended. It was my third visit to the Picos. I particuarly enjoyed Somiedo as there are less toursists generally and, apart from the occasional bear watcher, they're nearly all Spanish so it just had a more off-the-beaten- track feel. Feel free to contact me if you want any advice.

 

S

Simon Wates

Well-known member

• Oct 7, 2017

• #13

Nice pictures of the cat - very jealous, down here they are so nocturnal.

Evidently there is a need for a field guide about Wild Cat and hybrids that includes the grasshoppers too - oh, wait a minute, there's always Birdforum

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Oct 7, 2017

• #14

Wildcats are very good at identifying which grasshoppers are edible, and which aren't :king: