Sorry to bore you all with yet more Italian herpetofauna, but not having the European decadence of my own website, I thought I would post a few pics of the amphibians we encountered on our very moist Italian adventure..
These are the last pics I will take using Canon.. as I have gone over to the dark side, and am now the proud owner of a Nikon D300.
Thanks to all concerned with the trip.. a lovely balance of naughty Dutch guys, Clinically efficient Swiss, and stiff upper lipped tea drinking Brits.. I have learnt a lot of new words..none of which I can use in polite conversation..
Firstly, my great true love... even more so than vipers.. TOADS...
Stunning Bufo bufo..
The lovely Bufo viridis ssp siculus
The much more svelte Bufo boulengeri
We were also lucky enough to find a number of stunning frogs..
Pelophylax sp
Pelophylax lessonae bergeri
Discoglossus pictus
The Frankenstein like Xenopus..
We also saw some stunning tailed amphibians.. now my Euro twitch list is smaller than the credibility of Oscar Pistorius's defence statement.. so there remains some newts I need to see in the flesh, however this little fella must be amongst the most attractive.. no showy crests just a mad gold pattern..
Then there was this little fella.. tiny and prehistoric looking.. and able to make Bobby do his happy dance ( not for the faint hearted)
Finally there is this magnificent beast.. surly the spawn of a mating of a bullfrog and a pit bull terrier..
Thanks for looking folks
Cheers Paul