Inspired by recent Greek herping success of herping buddy Bobby Bok, I booked flights to Athens for a ten day trip. Summer is never easy, but also not too bad for mountain targets. Only back in 2004, I had seen (only a single) Greek Meadow Viper Vipera graeca. At the time, it was my first ‘Vipera ursinii’, so the smallest viper species of Europe was target n° 1 on this trip for me. A Greek Vipera berus bosniensis would also be nice… Then, there were two lacertids I hadn’t seen yet and who are candidates for full species rank – Podarcis peloponnesiacus thais and Podarcis erhardii livadiacus. Greece stands out as a top European herping destination, so I was sure several other species would pop up, despite the suboptimal season.
search sites
July 28th – July 31th
With Loïc only joining in on the 31st, I spend my first few days in the Feneos Basin and the vicinity of the lakes Doxa and Stymfalia on the northern Peloponnese, combined with a run up and down to Pylos for chameleons. I knew about the high lacertid diversity of this northern area, but had never been there. I was not disappointed. Photography was, however, particularly challenging. Most species were extremely secretive after the very first hours of the day. In particular, Podarcis ionicus was less then cooperative. A 100 mm macro didn’t do the job. But I didn’t let it get to me and decided to just enjoy, with a little less of that pressure of having to push the camera button. Which is a fancy way of saying – sorry for the substandard photos below ;).
numerous at night at a man-made water source – Greek Stream Frog Rana graeca
Limni Stymfalia
waking up with Testudo marginata
Podarcis (peloponnesiacus) thais
Podarcis (peloponnesiacus) thais
Peloponnese Slow Worm Anguis cephallonica
Limbless Skink Ophiomorus punctatissimus
Snake-wise, the usual suspects like Balkan Whip Snake Hierophis gemonensis, Eastern Montpellier Snake Malpolon insignitus, Grass Snake Natrix natrix and Dice Snake Natrix tessellata were supplemented with three of my favourite Cat Snake Telescopus fallax and a gorgeous Leopard Snake Zamenis situla.
female Montpellier Snake Malpolon insignitus
female Montpellier Snake Malpolon insignitus
male Montpellier Snake Malpolon insignitus
male Montpellier Snake Malpolon insignitus
Cat Snake Telescopus fallax
Leopard Snake Zamenis situla
Leopard Snake Zamenis situla
Leopard Snake Zamenis situla
The in-between chameleon run was fairly productive.
African Chameleon Chamaeleo africanus
African Chameleon Chamaeleo africanus
African Chameleon Chamaeleo africanus
African Chameleon Chamaeleo africanus
A wonderful waterfall is the ticket to find Greek Rock Lizard Hellenolacerta graeca in summer.
Greek Rock Lizard Hellenolacerta graeca
Greek Rock Lizard Hellenolacerta graeca
A very special place allowed for observing Loggerhead Sea Turtle Caretta caretta from the shore.
August 1st
Next main target area was another place I had never visited before – the Strofylia wetlands in the northwestern Peloponnese. Mosquitoes and tropical, humid heat made herping tough, but we still found some nice species.
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Balkan Spadefoot Toad Pelobates balcanicus
Balkan Spadefoot Toad Pelobates balcanicus
Epirus Water Frog Pelophylax epeiroticus
August 2nd – 3rd
We left the Peloponnese and entered the Pindos mountains. Good intel, good timing and using the right technique, allowed us to find two Greek Meadow Vipers Vipera graeca.
A very special adventure was snorkeling with newts. Warm water and already long after breeding season, so no crests anymore on these gorgeous Macedonian Crested Newts Triturus macedonicus, who probably already ate nearly all adult Greek Smooth Newts Lissotriton graecus.
August 4th – 5th
We moved further north to the Prespa area, going further uphill for a go at Adder Vipera berus bosniensis. First afternoon search only delivered Sand Lizard Lacerta agilis and Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra. The next morning, we teamed up with Greek herper Philippos Katsiyiannis. The weather, however, turned on us, so we fled from the mountain. After a bit of contemplating what to do with the time we had left, we decided to abandon the uncertain weather of the mountains and moved south already for a bit.
light lunch, well-deserved after many days of little sleep and food
August 6th – 7th
We spent our last days in the wider surroundings of Mount Olympos. No more rat snakes, unfortunately, but some nice Nose-horned Vipers Vipera ammodytes made up for that.
Hermann’s Tortoise Testudo hermanni
Hermann’s Tortoise Testudo hermanni
this is where I let a gorgeous Caspian Whip Snake Dolichophis caspius get away
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Nose-horned Viper Vipera ammodytes
Loïc wanted a ‘certain’ Salamandra salamandra werneri, which was what determined the schedule of our two nights in the area. One large stream held many large larvae, but we didn’t get any further than a single subadult. Summer….
Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra werneri
As we were scheduled for an early flight on the 8th, we had to spend our last night close to Athens airport. A special hint allowed us to add two more species to our observations. One of them, a beautiful snake species that is not rare, but often hard to catch – Dahl’s Whip Snake Platyceps najadum.
Ocellated Skink Chalcides ocellatus
Ocellated Skink Chalcides ocellatus
Dahl’s Whip Snake Platyceps najadum
Dahl’s Whip Snake Platyceps najadum
Species list
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