The "Gato Montes"

 Back in December 2009, Mika arrived on our door step, and I'm glad to say she has been with us now for almost three years, we've looked after her as best we could, treating her when she was ill, looking after her 6 kittens and taking her to the vet when ever necessary, so to us she was just another member of the family. So it was with great surprise to learn that one of our neighbors had spotted Mika around the hide they had built for birdwatching, so far nothing special, they leave food out for the birds and Mika being the sociable cat she is has no qualms about sharing a bite or two. It must have been a slow day in the hide, all hands quickly searched for wild fauna of central Spain on Google and came to the conclusion that our friendly feline was no less than a wildcat (Felis silvestris) she may be naughty but she certainly isn't wild. Anyway they where very proud of their finding, they published it on their web site and came over to tell us of their finding, and of course who would they run into but the wild Mika, lounging on the window pain after a nice fat feed.

To be fair shed does actually resemble some of the photos I've seen of the Iberian wild cat. Anyway it's good to know that they have been feeding here when we haven't been around and now that they have been formerly introduced they are no longer scarred of her, yes they did confess to us that she had intimidated them. Oh dear...