European Wildcat in northern France

During our summer holiday, on our way towards southern France, we made a two-night stop in the Lorraine region. On the agenda was European Wildcat and we managed to score big time.

On our first night we found four different wildcats together with large numbers of Red Fox, Wild Boar, Western Hedgehog, European Hare, Roe Deer, Red Deer and Wild Boar. On our second night, two of the same wildcats were seen again hunting in the exact same fields as the night before.

The cats were either found deep in the forest or seen hunting in the open grass fields along the forest edge. We were thrilled and excited.

The first of four wildcats, apparently a female in summer coat, was seen within the forest. I only managed to shoot four photos with the last only showing the tail tip as the cat jumped from the trail straight into the bushes. It was found on a narrow trail leading away from the road where I spotlighted it from the car for less than 10 seconds before it jumped.

The second wildcat was seen hunting in a forest meadow where it most of the time stayed hidden in the tall grass before it eventually returning to the forest. However, the eye shine was very obvious when viewed from the car. It was also seen the following night in the exact same spot.

This is the third wildcat.

This is also the third wildcat and thus the same individual as the one in the photo just above.

The fourth wildcat, which is seen in the video, was seen hunting in a grass fields for more than an hour before it went into the forest. It was also seen the following morning at the exact same spot.