Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Croatia, BiH, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Greece including ALL islands

Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Pablo Deschepper » Wed Jun 24, 2015 3:40 pm

Hi, I've been to Bulgeria for about 10 days with a friend a few months ago (first week of june). The first 3 days we focused on the Black Sea coast hoping to find ammodytes and other snakes. On the first day we spotted a lot of Natrix natrix (must have been around 30 individuals in total or something..), a big angry Dolichophis caspius and 1 little ammodytes. I didn't manage to get a picture of the last species... And.. we never saw an ammodytes again during the whole trip (so always keep your camera ready to shoot!). Other reptiles seen at the black sea coast: both Testudo species, Emys orbicularis, Natrix tesselata, Pseudopus apodus, Lacerta viridis. After that we went to the Rhodope mountains and spent some time on a camping with a nice British guy running this camp site, east of this mountain range. Reptiles added to our list here were: again both Testudo, Mauremys rivulata, DOR caspius, Podarcis tauricus, Cyrtopodion kotschyi, Podarcis erhardii, Lacerta trilineata, Ablepharus kitaibelii, lots of Malpolon, Zamenis longissimus.

Here are the pictures of some observed animals:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

It would be shame not to show you guys some of the beautiful Bulgarian non-herps:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Bulgaria really is such an underrated country animal-wise. You see such a diversity in flora and fauna with such less effort.

Thanks for watching,
Pablo
Pablo Deschepper
 
Posts: 148
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:23 pm
Hometown: Erps
country: Belgium

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Niklas Ban » Wed Jun 24, 2015 4:13 pm

Nice images and yes, it is underrated, but the insiders know that a lot of the eastern european countries are good for watching all type of animals. :)
I think it has something good, that not everybody knows that, otherwise there would be more tourism and so this would rather negative
for the nature there. The people who needs to know that there is great nature know it for example Hungary for birdphotographers. ;)
The Beeeater is my favourite, I totally failed get a good picture of it in my part of Germany last weekend. The distance between me and them were at least
100 metres to far away even with big lenses and a hide, so congratulations for the picture. :)
User avatar
Niklas Ban
 
Posts: 634
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:30 pm
Location: Düsseldorf
Hometown: Duesseldorf
country: Germany

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Bobby Bok » Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:13 pm

That surely is one of the nicest places to herp in Europe. So many species and in still good numbers, even under suboptimal conditions in autumn last year we found lots of snakes. The picture from the piled Emys is surely my favourite, stunning shot!
User avatar
Bobby Bok
 
Posts: 954
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:11 pm
Hometown: Heemskerk
country: Netherlands

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Ruggero M. » Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:26 pm

Very good pictures...but: many Malpolon met, and no pictures of them...? :cry:
I would also like to see some habitat pictures from Bulgaria, if you have any! ;)
Ruggero M.
 
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 7:15 pm
Hometown: Pavia
country: Italy

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Michael Wilms » Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:07 pm

Wonderful pictures! :D
Looks like a good place for herping and find other beautiful animals!
User avatar
Michael Wilms
 
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 3:55 pm
Hometown: Pirmasens-Gersbach
country: Germany

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Pablo Deschepper » Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:35 pm

Ruggero Morimando wrote:Very good pictures...but: many Malpolon met, and no pictures of them...? :cry:
I would also like to see some habitat pictures from Bulgaria, if you have any! ;)


Those Malpolon were damn quick. As soon as you see one, it takes off at lighting speed, people call it "the arrow snake" in Bulgaria and I can understand why :D . Trying to catch them in tall grass (where we practically always found them) was just ridiculously hard and just gave you a sweat outbreak . I don't have habitat pictures on my computer right now, maybe if I find some time I can upload some.
Pablo Deschepper
 
Posts: 148
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:23 pm
Hometown: Erps
country: Belgium

Re: Bulgaria trip early june 2015

Postby Ruggero M. » Fri Jun 26, 2015 8:22 pm

Thanks Pablo!

The fastest snakes I've ever seen I can remember now were, in fact, 3 H.viridiflavus and 1 Malpolon monspessulanus spotted in 4 different situations.

1) H.viridiflavus. Rolled up in the sun, basking. It disappeared in a fraction of a second, and I couln't notice anything else than "snake presence" before, and "snake absence" then.
2) H.viridiflavus. It was slowly crawling among grass. Suddenly it disappeared in a fraction of second, producing only a rapid short noise (with me was, during that occasion, a woman who studied snakes, and, as she didn't see the snake before as I did, said to me with disbelief: "Are you sure it was a viridiflavus? A noise like this is typical only for big lizards!" :evil: )
3) H.viridiflavus. Huge black/yellow specimen seen from big distance in early spring inside a little wood. It was so fast, that, for watching it, I had to move not only the eyes, but also my head... I think it "ran" in the wood as fast as a running man or even more, but among vegetation and trees, and the terrain was completely in plain!
4) Malpolon monspessulanus, male, of a beautiful straw-yellow coloration, seen not far from Savona (Liguria).
It crawled over a dry ditch, but its movements were so fast, that it was impossible not only to catch it, but was actually difficult to follow it with the sight!


P.S. Same instantaneously "disappearing effect" as H.viridiflavus n.1 made recently a female Malpolon rolled up among vegetation in Cres! :|
Ruggero M.
 
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 7:15 pm
Hometown: Pavia
country: Italy


Return to Balkan peninsula

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests