Summer Herping

[Andre Schmid]

Against boring and because the silence on the board - a few summer herps.

Please feel free to add your Pictures to the thread.

Vipera berus in different colors and a light colored (hypo) Lacerta agilis (all InSitu):

[Alexander Pieh]

Hi Andre,
I have been the first weekend of August in Südtirol (Alto Adige).
I found two female beru. Fat and freshly shed. It might be that they have laid "eggs" by now (~around 3 weeks earlier than usual).
How is the status in the Blackwoodforst?
Sincerely
Alex

[Kristijan Lazic]

Few from me ...

Anguis fragilis, mt. Kosmaj, Serbia

Anguis fragilis, mt. Kosmaj, Serbia

Lacerta viridis, mt. Kosmaj, Serbia

[Andre Schmid]

How is the status in the Blackwoodforst?

Hi Alex,

they still need a little time, but I also guess they are earlier than in the other years - this year we found the first in alltitude of ~1000m mid-end of february, so they are 3-4 weeks earlier than normal.

[Kristian Munkholm]

Haven't been herping much this summer, photographing even less.

This past July was the second hottest month on record here in Denmark so going to the beach or searching for butterflies seemed more appropriate pastimes. Nevertheless I have found at least a few herps, even photographing a couple so here's a small random selection.

I went to a playground in the hills with my family one day. While my wife watched the kids I took a little stroll and came across a juvie adder basking and digesting.


Back at the playground a sand lizard.


Agile frog from a night time walk in the woods.


The scourge of summer herping, Lucilia bufonivora was rare in Denmark until a few years ago.Increasingly common and widespread this year for the first time I saw it near my home, the first Zealand record I know of.


To end it on a lighter note, your hypo female needs hypo male companionship, Andre. Not a summer find, here's a crappy pic of one from this Easter.

[Kevin Byrnes]

Grass snake swimming across a local pond

[Daniel Kane]

Had my first trip out since June this afternoon. 16*C and mostly overcast. Still quite wet from recent rains, so very squelchy and humid at ground level. In total 6 adders seen in two hours, including gravid females and some April-style 'silver bullets' (Jurgen). This makes up around 18% of the estimated adult population size in this location. In recent months I've seen a couple of new adult individuals, but have not seen some other individuals for a few years now so I imagine the actual population size is relatively unchanged from last year when I worked everything out properly for my dissertation.

F3, June 11th

F11, June 11th

Pre-shed couple basking together, June 11th

Pre-shed male from today

[Kristian Munkholm]

I went out for a short local trip today as well - found all five native reptile species (berus, natrix, vivipara, agilis & fragilis) + bufo, temporaria, arvalis & esculentus.

One of the adders (no pics, sorry) looked, I guess, as if she had just given birth, couldn't find any newborns though.

A few pics:

[Tomas Klacek]

Nice shots and animals! Here are some local herps from myself.

Hyla


female berus - aproximately 200 masl, probably most lowland population I know.


Astacus astacus


baby Hyla



P. fuscus



Pelophylax


and another berus

[Andre Schmid]

Last berus portrait looks great ! Thanks for sharing.