Namran

Today I took a trip up to Namran to bird the coastal forest near the Russian border and hopefully find some wintering woodland birds. The woods are quite extensive and at this time of year devoid of people although the well worn paths and cafes closed for winter suggested that isn't always the case.

The shore and sea were almost devoid of birds except for a few LWHG's but the mixed deciduous woodlands were fairly lively.

Commonest birds were great tit and chaffinch but I did manage a few new Azeri birds such as treecreeper (not the short-toed variety though), together with wood pigeon, long-tailed tit and a couple of jackdaw on the open fields.

There were plenty of woodpeckers drumming, most of which were great-spotted woodpecker but I added middle-spotted woodpecker to my life list with a couple of individuals. It was also good to find several hawfinch which I haven't seen for a few years.

But perhaps the most interesting sightings were the two mammals I saw. Firstly a rather sleepy raccoon resting outside his home high in an old tree. These are an introduced species culled for the fur trade. Then in the early afternoon as I was slowly driving the back road I saw a very large cat wander across the road in the middle distance. It was twice the size of any feral cat I've ever seen with long legs and a long tail giving a very elegant appearance. Jungle cat?