Iberian Wolf, Spain

We set off to this part of Spain in the early hours of Saturday morning, hoping to see Iberian Wolf. After driving an hour to our hotel, and finding it straight away, we had a long chat with the owner Antonio, who has vast knowledge of the local packs of wolves. This wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure as the areas where the wolves were known to be were simply vast. So we set off on Saturday evening to the 'best site'. John and his mates soon joined us along with quite a few local 'wolf watchers' but no luck. We stayed until the last light but afraid we were not going to be lucky on our first day. Sunday morning we were all up there by 7am ready for dawn which was around 7.30am. We all had every bit of clothing on we had, it was bitterly cold. With quite a few birds to keep us occupied (crested tit, dartford warbler, crossbills), we scanned and scanned this vast area for any movement but afraid still no luck.
Sunday evening saw us back on the ridge again. Someone shouted 'wolf, wolf' which we all got onto but afraid these 2 wolves were actually 2 large dogs. This was not good for us as no-one had ever seen dogs being run on there before. We went from being totally ecstatic to despondent within 5 seconds! But it did prove to us that we could see movement quite clearly from such a distance away.
Monday morning came and we all met up there again at 7am. Scopes set up ready. We scanned and scanned until our eyes were watering until Mike said he had animals that were definately not dogs..........the moment we had all be waiting for. They took some finding as there are no markers to guide you but we were soon all onto them. 3 wolves sunbathing before going to sleep for the day. There is just one wolf left sunning itself on our pic, very distant but a wolf no doubt! The others had just strolled off into the trees on the right, totally disappearing. That was it - pressure off, we had seen wolves!  We danced and hugged, some twittered before posing for a 'Team Wolf' pic.
Tuesday morning we were keener than keen and were back up there on the ridge scanning the piste before first light. Just after 8am John picked up movement coming over the hill. Deer were running in every direction so we knew wolves were on that hill, we just had to find them. John picked up a line of them, walking down the hill but they soon disappeared into the scrub. We scanned and scanned and then Karen found a single one strolling down alone which seemed to sit down behind rocks and didn't emerge again. Karen was then beside herself as she had found the pack John had earlier. They were easier to see as they were walking along bare land, 6 wolves, what an amazing feeling, we could see 6 wolves totally at ease coming back in after hunting all night.  YES !!
The 'Team Wolf' pic shows James Spencer, Simon, John Sadler, Rob Jackson and Mike Richardson. Excellent company !
There is a trip report written by Mike which can be found at http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=251688