From 7th to 13th October 2013, I spent the autumn holidays with my family on Samos.
Despite it was not a herping trip I tried to spend 2-3 hours each day in the field alone or with one or my two children, mainly in the morning except the first day at the end of the afternoon. The last day we walked to the Pythagoras Cave all the family and it was not really an herping session and in addition the north wind was blowing very hard.
The week before we came, the weather on the island was very cold for the season but during our week we had seven sunny days with increasing temperature from 22°C to 27°C and no wind except the last day.
According to the past reports, herping on Samos is not easy in autumn and I had absolutely no illusions about my desire to find a M. xanthina... Indeed, despite the exploration of several sites in the south of the island I found extremely few reptiles and only one DOR Laudakia stellio...
Here are the very few pics I made with some details :
7th-8th : Kampos - Ormos area : only a few Ophispos elegans
9th : Psili Ammos area : an elusive Lacerta trilineata
10th : some Laudakia stellio and Ophisops elegans in the Koumeika area and 3 Hemidactylus turcicus at night around the hotel at Kampos
11th-12th : near Ireo : some Ophisops elegans, 1 L. trilineata, an elusive Natrix n. persa (the only snake of the trip), 50+ Mauremy rivulata in the last pond of the area and a very nice Chamaeleo chamaeleon that is clearly the best sighting of the week.
Despite the few reptiles, it was a nice relaxing week enjoying the sun and the sea before returning to the swiss coldness...
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