Bulgaria (Dolna Studena) - April 2009

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Bulgaria (Dolna Studena) - April 2009

Postby Ilian Velikov » Thu May 28, 2009 4:08 pm

Dolna Studena is a village in the Danubian Plain of Bulgaria, situated on the Yantra river. Most of the area is a wide plain and agricultural land but on the eastern shore of the river there are some hills with a patch of forest on the northern slopes and bushes and rocks on the southern. That's where me and my girlfriend went first.The weather was very warm and sunny.

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While we were crossing the river I photographed the most common herp here – the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)

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Soon after that we realized the Balkan Wall Lizard (Podarcis tauricus) was the next most common animal after the frogs.They were everywhere! There were also Balkan Green Lizards (Lacerta trillineata) and Eastern Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis). As we climbed up the hills the L.trillineata started to disappear and only L.viridis were present on the higher slopes. Unfortunately I didn't managed to photograph L.trillineata.

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Balkan Wall Lizard (Podarcis tauricus)


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Balkan Wall Lizard (Podarcis tauricus)


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Eastern Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis)


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Eastern Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis),juvenile


We also were nicely surprised by the three Spur-thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca) we found not very far away from each other.

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T.graeca eating dandelions


On our way back, down the hills I was lucky to catch a juvenile Large Whip Snake (Dolichophis caspius).

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After that we went down to the plains, to an old ruined mill. There was a swamp next to the mill where once the river flew. The swamp was packed with...of course, P.ridibundus. Some of them were huge (20 cm or more)! The ruines of the mill were full of Dice Snakes (Natrix tesselata).More than 15 individuals were observed,mostly juveniles. My girlfriend also saw another D.caspius,but until I got to the spot where she was the snake went into the tall grasses and I couldn't relocate it.

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Dice Snake (Natrix tesselata),juvenile


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Dice Snake (Natrix tesselata),juvenile


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Dice Snake (Natrix tesselata),adult


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Dice Snake (Natrix tesselata),adult


It was a nice trip and we'll surely be back to Dolna Studena,soon!

Thank's for looking!
Ilian Velikov
 
Posts: 1216
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Hometown: Pravets
country: Bulgaria

Re: Bulgaria (Dolna Studena) - April 2009

Postby Mario Schweiger » Thu May 28, 2009 4:37 pm

Thanks for sharing this nice report and the very good pictures!

Hope to see/read more soon!
Mario (Admin)

Please visit also my personal Herp-site vipersgarden.at
User avatar
Mario Schweiger
Site Admin
 
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 7:57 pm
Location: Obertrum, Salzburg, Austria
Hometown: Obertrum
country: Austria


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