My wife and i spent this weekend fieldherping and birding in some spots close to home. Saturday was cold and rainy, while sunday was sunny but windy.
First place we hit was a forest 20 kilometers north of our home, where some ill managed manholes turned into traps for all kinds of animals.
From the first trap we rescued a Great Crested Newt, but it was raining too hard at the time, so no pic of that one, sorry.
Next we found lots of Marsh Frogs, some Agile Frogs and a couple of Fire-bellied Toads.
Can you spot it?!
Walking around we encountered Sand Lizards (DOR), and juveniles Eastern Green Lizards.
Around noon Corina found a great treat for the cold and tiered fieldherpers:
Moving on to the snakes.
First, a juvenile Grass Snake:And last, the catch of the day, a baby Smooth Snake that was flipped under some debris. Man i love to flip stuff!
The only interesting bird spotted here was a Lesser Spotted Eagle. No photo of that, but here is some fungus instead.
Next day, we drove about 40 km south, to protected area that includes some forests and marshes. As expected, we saw Grass Snakes, Marsh Frogs, Agile Frogs and Eastern Green Lizards. The only cool things we flipped were an Aesculapian Snake`s skin and a small light coloured shrew.
Walking around we encountered Brown Hare, Roe Deer, Wild Boar, Wood Mouse and Common Vole. Not bad. But the nicest animal was spotted just when we were about to call it a day and return to the car. Out of the blue, one of the coolest european raptors appeared and allowed us to witness an amazing areal show for about 15 minutes. It was the Osprey! A lifer that i dreamed about since i can remember.
We like to think that it was nature`s reward for our good deeds.
Happy herping!
