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...
Porto Santo Stefano by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Tarentola mauritanica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Hemidactylus turcicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Bufotes viridis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
tuscany by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Elaphe quatuorlineata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and then, the first viper, and what a beautiful specimen
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
another tortoise crossed our way on one of the hills...
Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
easy to see, but hard to get a picture of this cute fellows
Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
time to relax at the beach that the nice lady at the reception recommanded...
and what a great beach
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
at a little pond, we found a pretty grass snake...
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...
the hole by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
but it was absolutly worth it
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
the last one for today... no herp, but a must see in that area
torre di Pisa by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Some more caves and herps from Liguria next time....
regards
Markus
NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heavy)
Moderator: Scott Waters
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Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017
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...
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Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017
Yeah, I really was hoping for a red asp viper, so our first venomous was already my favorit find
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...
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and my girlfriend even spotted a youngster
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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...
Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Rana italica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
in the wet parts next to the little stream our friend found this little guy...
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
showing the bright side
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and here is the thrid species of cave salamanders
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
but we had not finished with streams, the next one was a bit bigger...
Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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...
cave by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and that's what we've been looking for...
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
next time you see if we reached the place we've been looking for
regards
Markus
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...
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and my girlfriend even spotted a youngster
Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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...
Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Rana italica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
in the wet parts next to the little stream our friend found this little guy...
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
showing the bright side
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and here is the thrid species of cave salamanders
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
but we had not finished with streams, the next one was a bit bigger...
Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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...
cave by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
and that's what we've been looking for...
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
next time you see if we reached the place we've been looking for
regards
Markus
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Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heav
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...
Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf
Flickr
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
our firend Kai found this little guy on it's way home from breakfast...
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
sun came out again....
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
beside a nice brown whip snake and a young smooth snake we found this black grass snake, pretty cool
Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
also the wall lizards were really curios and I could get quite close...
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
Iphiclides podalirius by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
regards
Markus
after cruising around on some narrow streets (again) and a bit of hiking through really nice alpine habitat we came across the first herps...
Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf
Flickr
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
our firend Kai found this little guy on it's way home from breakfast...
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
sun came out again....
Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
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
beside a nice brown whip snake and a young smooth snake we found this black grass snake, pretty cool
Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
also the wall lizards were really curios and I could get quite close...
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
Iphiclides podalirius by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
regards
Markus
- mtratcliffe
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Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017 (picture heav
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.