NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heavy)

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
Markus Oulehla
Posts: 61
Joined: August 20th, 2013, 12:39 pm
Location: Austria
Contact:

NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heavy)

Post by Markus Oulehla »

Hey folks,
back from our herptrip through north-west italy and frezzing my a** off here in snowy vienna, so it's nice to look over the pictures of the last days...
So please enjoy...

After seeing some mediterranean species in croatia a few years ago, we decided to look westward for some new species.
So after a long drive we started at Monte Argentario a bit south of Grosseto, Tuscany.
Really a nice place, too dry to see our main target (Discoglossus), but great weather for some other herps...

Image
Porto Santo Stefano by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Tarentola mauritanica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Hemidactylus turcicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Ophrys sp. by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



On the mainland we took a closer look at the area around Grosseto...

they gave nice concerts right next to our room :D
Image
Bufotes viridis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
tuscany by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Elaphe quatuorlineata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and then, the first viper, and what a beautiful specimen :beer:
Image
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

Image
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


another tortoise crossed our way on one of the hills...
Image
Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


easy to see, but hard to get a picture of this cute fellows
Image
Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


time to relax at the beach that the nice lady at the reception recommanded...
Image


and what a great beach :D
Image
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

Image
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


at a little pond, we found a pretty grass snake...
Image
Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


heading north and a little bit into the mountains on some horribly narrow streets, just to climb down into the lokal dump...
Image
the hole by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


but it was absolutly worth it :D
Image
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



the last one for today... no herp, but a must see in that area :lol:
Image
torre di Pisa by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Some more caves and herps from Liguria next time....

regards
Markus
User avatar
Jeroen Speybroeck
Posts: 826
Joined: June 29th, 2011, 1:56 am
Location: Belgium
Contact:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

Nice, never been to Tuscany other than on a summer blitz visit for Speleomantes. Would love to find me some asps and a four-lined there some day...
Markus Oulehla
Posts: 61
Joined: August 20th, 2013, 12:39 pm
Location: Austria
Contact:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

Post by Markus Oulehla »

Yeah, I really was hoping for a red asp viper, so our first venomous was already my favorit find :D
Just can recommand this time as the weather was perfect for our trip, took a while before reaching the good herping temperatures in the morning, but didn't get too hot, some rain at the right places...

Just in the caves we came along, it was pretty cold...
Image
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and my girlfriend even spotted a youngster :D
Image
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



as we all heated up in the sun after taking pictures in the cave, we watched some wall lizards basking as well...

Image
Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

Image
Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


the next, cloudy day we spent some more time on the hunt for salamanders...

but first we met our first italian frog
Image
Rana italica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



in the wet parts next to the little stream our friend found this little guy...
Image
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


showing the bright side
Image
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Image
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and here is the thrid species of cave salamanders :D

Image
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



but we had not finished with streams, the next one was a bit bigger...
Image
Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



As the next day started sunny we started from Genoa into the west of Ligura, actually in the hope for some Malpolon, but curious what else we could find there...

suprisingly the first herp turned out to be a slow worm :)
Image
Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



some clouds came up and the weather started to change to our disadvantage, but still some goodluck... or just the right species :P
Image
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



behind some bushes and brambles we saw another cave and gave it a try... less individuals than on the other, way moister caves but still...
Image
cave by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



after a great pizza almost in the middle of nowhere we spent some time herping in the dark...
as some stonewalls turned out to be good on that day, we went on checking some of them
Image
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



and that's what we've been looking for...
Image
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




As we had to cross Italy from west to east, we always hand in mind that the mountains of Piemont were not too far away, but risky as we knew the situation at our mountains, still too snowy for vipers by now... ...while checking the social medias, it turned out to be just the right time to be at this place, so we gave it a try.

ok the ride north was longer than expected :lol:
next time you see if we reached the place we've been looking for ;)


regards
Markus
Markus Oulehla
Posts: 61
Joined: August 20th, 2013, 12:39 pm
Location: Austria
Contact:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heav

Post by Markus Oulehla »

On we go with some more pictures from the Piemont-area:
after cruising around on some narrow streets (again) and a bit of hiking through really nice alpine habitat we came across the first herps...
Image
Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf
Flickr


Image
Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Like in the last days wind came up again and brought some clouds, so not the best weather to enjoy basking... we move on trying to reach another montainside, what turned out to be the right choice :D
our firend Kai found this little guy on it's way home from breakfast...

Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


sun came out again....
Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Image
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr





Last day and to make the loong way home a bit more enjoyable we stopped in south tyrol, met a friend of mine and went out to look for (actually ammodytes, but as we didn't find them lets generally say) snakes :lol:

beside a nice brown whip snake and a young smooth snake we found this black grass snake, pretty cool :D

ImageNatrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


also the wall lizards were really curios and I could get quite close...
Image
Podarcis muralis muralis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



On my way through the slopes, a butterfly followed me for a while always I moved on he came after me, landing on a flower right in front, so after the third time I took a picture of it, which is a nice end for my report here, I think :)
Image
Iphiclides podalirius by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Hope you enjoy the pictures!

regards
Markus
User avatar
mtratcliffe
Posts: 533
Joined: January 19th, 2014, 4:34 pm
Location: Mt Laurel, NJ

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heav

Post by mtratcliffe »

Awesome, awesome photos and details! Thanks for sharing your finds from a lesser-seen corner of the world (at least herpetologically-speaking). Your Vipera walser photos are beautiful.
Post Reply