Italy: Amalfi Coast

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moloch
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Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by moloch »

Last year was my wife's 60th birthday and I surprised her with tickets to Rome. My wife loves Italy more than any other country in Europe. She wanted to travel in September and October while the weather was still warm but the summer crowds were absent. We therefore delayed the trip until this year. We were lucky and experienced one of Italy's warmest autumns with balmy conditions until mid-October.

This was my first visit to Italy and I did not know what to expect. I normally prefer to travel in the Asian tropics or here in Australia. I found that Italy was much more interesting than I anticipated. Parts of it have really spectacular scenery and I found many butterflies, birds and a few herps. It was also an interesting feeling to walk in the hills and find ruins of old buildings that were centuries old.

We spent most of our time at three locations including Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast and finally Florence/Assisi. This report will cover my favourite part of the trip, the visit to the spectacular Amalfi Coast. Some of you will be like me and not know much of this part of the world. I will add a few "touristy" shots at the end of the post to give a feel for the place.
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Here are a few shots of the Amalfi area:
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The town of Amalfi was built in a narrow valley. A stream flows down the valley but then is diverted into a channel that runs beneath the buildings.
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I found a trail that followed this stream for a few kilometers into the hills behind Amalfi. This was interesting since it was densely wooded. Also, there were so many ancient ruins along the way. These were always too shady for photos but here are habitat shots of the area.
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This little frog was found along the stream. I don't know its identity.
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... typical view along the trails:
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... high in the hills above Amalfi
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These areas were good for herps. One nice find was this snake that I think to be a Western Whip Snake (Hierophis viridiflavus):
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Wall Lizards were confusing. I think that both Italian Wall Lizards (Podarcis sicula) and Common Wall Lizards (Podarcis muralis) were possible here. The lizards that I photographed more closely resemble shots of Italian Wall Lizards but I am not certain of the species. Does anyone out there know what should be examined to separate these species?
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Rock walls like this always had flowers and were a good place to find butterflies.
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I don't know the name of this plant but it was attactive to many butterflies and hawk-moths.
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Hummingbird Hawk-Moths (Macroglossum stellatarum) were commonly seen as they fed from mountain wildflowers. Their abdomens had enlarged scales that looked a little like the fanned tail of a hovering hummingbird.
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Swallowtail (Papilio machaon): fairly common on flowers along the rock walls.
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Lesser Woodland Graylings (Hipparchia genava) were numerous in the stream valley above Amalfi. They often would lay their wings against rocks while basking in the morning.
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Tree Graylings (Hipparchia statilinus) were the most common satyrinae. These would also lay their wings flat on rocks or ferns when basking.
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Speckled Wood (Paragea egeria): These varied a little in colour and some were quite dark.
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Wall Browns (Lasiommata megera) were common in open areas such as along rock walls. They would usually flick the upper wing upwards when I took a photo. This exposed the eyespot that was often obscured when the butterfly was resting.
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Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) were seen a few times in the stream valley above Amalfi.
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Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta): fairly common but usually wary and hard to approach.
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Southern White Admiral (Limenitis reducta): scarce with only a few seen. Their undersurface is nicely marked and reminds me of a Commander in Malaysia. In flight, they resemble a Neptis.
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Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia): the male landed next to the basking female and began to display with quivering wings.
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I walked from Amalfi up to the little village of Ravello a few times. It was quite a walk. One section of the trail had 700 steps so it was great exercise. Wall Lizards were numerous in this area. The view from the lookouts at Ravello was spectacular! Birds here included species like European Robins, Serin, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Jay, Raven, Greenfinch, Acrocephalus warblers, White Wagtails, Grey Wagtails and others.
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... more to come later
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Damn, man, you could find a King Cobra in a discarded Doritos bag.....how do you do it???
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Ribbit
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Ribbit »

Thanks for another great post! I think your frog might be a young Rana temporaria. http://www.euroherp.com/ might have some useful identification info also.

John
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Great post and very nice scenery.

The Rana is not temporaria as its distribution doesn't go nearly as far south. It's either dalmatina or italica and looks like the former to me, but don't take my word for it.

You got the Hierophis right. Did it tag you? :)

All the Podarcis are sicula. Males, except for the fourth one.

Cheers.
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Jeroen Speybroeck
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

Juvenile frog is Rana italica - Italian Stream Frog. Habitat works out perfectly, dalmatina has different snout shape and visible, larger eardrum.

Common Wall Lizard only occupies higher elevations and damper places, once you go more south into Italy.
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TNWJackson
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by TNWJackson »

Very nice David, good to see you got some herping in during your wife's birthday present!

You certainly travel a lot :mrgreen:
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moloch
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by moloch »

Thanks, all, for the replies and help with the identifications.

Hans,
I did have much better success than I expected. Unfortunately, no vipers although I looked.

Thanks, John, for the link.

Martti, You obviously know this species. Yes, I made a blood payment for the photos. They are agro snakes!

Thanks for the info, Jeroen. I will be adding another photo of a lizard from high up in the Lattari Mountains. I am hoping that it might be a Podarcis muralis.

Tim, I always had the camera at the ready so did not delay my wife too much when on walks in the morning. In the afternoon, I usually walked alone since my wife avoided the more intense sun. This year was incredible for holidays but I had to use my long service leave.


One of the highlights of the trip was a mountain walk from Amalfi to Positano. This walk is called "Sentiero degli Dei" ("Path of the Gods"). It certainly was beautiful with lovely vistas over the Lattari Mountains and the Isle of Capri in the distance. We took a bus for 45 minutes from Amalfi up to the village of Bomarano. The Path of the Gods walk commences there. The walk was not all that long nor strenuous and it took us about 4 hours to reach the paved road in the hills above Positano.

Here are photos along the way. It was amazing to see terraces carved into these steep slopes. Just getting to those everyday would have been difficult. The people who work those must be very fit.
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... odd, narrow cypress trees grew on some of the slopes.
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... trail down to Positano
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The stunning Positano.
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Along the way, I saw this Wall Lizard that might be different from the others. I think that it may be a Common Wall Lizard (P. muralis) but I will need confirmation from someone. It lived along the trail high in the hills.
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This Wall Lizard was much more green than the others. It was basking next to a shop where my wife was shopping. I think that it is an Italian Wall Lizard.
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Wall Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica): I saw a couple on rock walls along the trail.
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A few species of plants were flowering. These attracted a variety of butterflies.
... carnation-like:
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Here are shots of butterflies on the walk:
Clouded Yellows (Coleus crocea) were common. This one was very cooperative and allowed me to get quite close for photos. They usually were fast and wary.
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I only saw a few of the whiter yellows. They seemed to be smaller than the Clouded Yellow above. When looking through the Italian butterfly website, I could not decide whether these were females of C. crocea or whether they might have been something different such as Berger's Clouded Yellows (C. facariensis).
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This, to me, looks like a Mountain Small White (Pieris ergane), but I am not certain. I learned on this trip that there are a number of "Cabbage Whites" in Europe.
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Small White (Pieris rapae)
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Bath Whites (Pontia edusa). I see them often but they rarely seem to stop at flowers and when they do, the visits are brief.
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I saw Graylings (Hipparchia semele) a few times above Positano. These would often flick open their wings with the preflash to expose the eye spots.
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Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
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TNWJackson
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by TNWJackson »

Love the wall gecko!
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Ribbit
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Ribbit »

Agreed about the wall gecko. That thing is weird-looking enough to be from Australia!

John
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Martti Niskanen »

moloch wrote:Along the way, I saw this Wall Lizard that might be different from the others. I think that it may be a Common Wall Lizard (P. muralis) but I will need confirmation from someone.
Unfortunately they're also sicula.
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moloch
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by moloch »

Thanks, guys. Yes, Wall Geckos looked a little like some of the Aussie geckos and they were large. I will have more shots in this post.

Thanks again, Martti, for your help with the Wall Lizards. I have more here and then in a future post of the Florence (Firenze) area.


My wife wanted to experience Italian village life so we spent a week at Sant'Agata. This area is on a plateau not far from Positano and just above Sorrento. Most of the natural habitat here was gone. There were large gardens around each of the houses. The people here seemed to produce much of their food and it seemed like everything in the gardens had a purpose. Most yards had olive trees, fig trees, rows of cherry tomatoes, red peppers (capsicums), squash, beans and other vegetables. Chickens were numerous and some farms also had pigs.

We stayed here at "Charming House", a nice place with small apartments. I gorged on the figs and found many wall lizards and butterflies right in the yard.
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At first, I was a little disappointed with the area after the beauty of Amalfi and Positano. After a couple of days, I found a trail through native vegetation near the ocean. This place was only about a half-hour walk down a steep hill from our apartment so I visited it as much as possible. Birds here included many Blackbirds, Robins, Common Redstarts, Willow Warblers, Acrocephalus warblers, Sardinian Warblers, Goldcrests, Serin, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Ravens, Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, a Hoopoe, Common Buzzards and what I think were Dartmouth Warblers.
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Vesuvius in the distance:
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This area was good for Western Whip Snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus). I bumped into several including this juvenile:
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... and adults
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Wall lizards were common. I think that these are Italian Wall Lizards (Podarcis siculus).
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Wall Geckos (Tarentola mauritanica) were common. These were day active geckos that basked before temps were too high. In the afternoon, I still saw them but they were usually on the shady sides of boulders or rock walls. From a distance, they always made me think of Sceloporus.
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Common Blues (Polyommatus icarus). There seemed to a good deal of interaction between the blue and brown butterflies. The brown lycaenids were probably Brown Argus (Aricia agestis).
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female Escher's Blue (Plebicula escheri)
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Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithus): common
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Geranium Bronze (Cacyreus marshalli)
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Small Copper (Lycaena phaeus): I really like these colourful butterflies.
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Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus). This species has an incredible distribution. I saw it recently in the Blue Mountains and earlier in the year in Malaysia.
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Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus alceae)
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Pygmy Skipper (Gegenes pumilio): tiny skipper that seems to be quite wary. I have only saw it a few times.
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These Cyclamen grew in cool, shady areas along the trails.
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Sunrise at Sant'Agata:
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Here are a few touristy shots of Amalfi. We stayed in a hotel that was situated next to the main piazza (plaza).
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The room had a small balcony and we would sit there at night, sip wine and enjoy the ambience. It really was a lovely place.
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Autumn was a great time to visit since it was not too crowded as in the summer.
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That is all from Amalfi. Before long, I will begin a post from Florence/Assisi/Cinque Terre.


Regards,
David
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StephenZozaya
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by StephenZozaya »

Excellent so far, David! Good to see some of the wildlife of Europe on here.


Stephen
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moloch
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by moloch »

Thanks, Stephen. It was not herp rich like Oz but there were plenty of interesting sights. We had a wonderful time.
heavenscloud
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by heavenscloud »

Another phenomenal post!

Brandon
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by Matt Cage »

David

All I can say is WOW. Your scenery shots are simply stunning. Italy has always been on the list of places to go, but it may have just gotten bumped up a bit! Also, those Hierophis are very nice! The diversity of the butterflies is incredible.

I'd say you had a good year! Hope to see you in 2012, somehere.

Matt
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moloch
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by moloch »

Thanks very much, Brandon and Matt.

Matt,
You will definitely enjoy Italy. The places, scenery, food and wine are all so good. Yes, this past year was a good one for travel. The only problem is that it is addictive and I am nearly out of holiday time. Oh well ... It would be good to meet somewhere on another herp trip. I would love to do Peru again.

Regards,
David
AvaC
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Re: Italy: Amalfi Coast

Post by AvaC »

Amalfi Coast is amazing. The nature there is stunning.
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