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NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:30 am
by Markus Oulehla
Hey folks,
back from our herptrip through north-west italy and frezzing my a** off here in snowy vienna, so it's nice to look over the pictures of the last days...
So please enjoy...

After seeing some mediterranean species in croatia a few years ago, we decided to look westward for some new species.
So after a long drive we started at Monte Argentario a bit south of Grosseto, Tuscany.
Really a nice place, too dry to see our main target (Discoglossus), but great weather for some other herps...

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Porto Santo Stefano by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Tarentola mauritanica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Hemidactylus turcicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Ophrys sp. by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



On the mainland we took a closer look at the area around Grosseto...

they gave nice concerts right next to our room :D
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Bufotes viridis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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tuscany by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Elaphe quatuorlineata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and then, the first viper, and what a beautiful specimen :beer:
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Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

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Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


another tortoise crossed our way on one of the hills...
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Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


easy to see, but hard to get a picture of this cute fellows
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Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


time to relax at the beach that the nice lady at the reception recommanded...
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and what a great beach :D
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Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

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Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


at a little pond, we found a pretty grass snake...
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Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


heading north and a little bit into the mountains on some horribly narrow streets, just to climb down into the lokal dump...
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the hole by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


but it was absolutly worth it :D
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Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



the last one for today... no herp, but a must see in that area :lol:
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torre di Pisa by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Some more caves and herps from Liguria next time....

regards
Markus

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:06 am
by Mario Schweiger
nice observations,

and that empty Castiglione beach ;)

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:01 pm
by Markus Oulehla
and that empty Castiglione beach ;)


wouldn't go there on weekends or in the tourist-season :lol:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:56 pm
by Ruggero M.
I've been many times in Tuscany and never met a 4lined snake: for me it's a "not existing" species in Tuscany... :shock: :lol:
My brother lives near Siena and is every day in the open fields/woods for work: he met in years only 1 (if I'm right) 4lined snake... a killed baby. :cry:
In Croatia (Cres) I can find more than five specimens of 4lined snakes in few hours of walking: so, it's not my fault... The only conclusion is that in Tuscany E.quatuorlineata is not a very widespread/common species... :ugeek:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:49 pm
by Pablo Deschepper
Damn, that aspis in the beach is a really cool find! And the 4lined too of course :)

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:06 pm
by Niklas Ban
Pablo Deschepper wrote:Damn, that aspis in the beach is a really cool find! And the 4lined too of course :)

Indeed, very very nice "in habitat" shot!

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:08 pm
by Bobby Bok
My favourite also has to be the coastal Aps Viper :oops: Lovely trip you had!

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:20 pm
by Markus Oulehla
Thank you guys!

I've been many times in Tuscany and never met a 4lined snake: for me it's a "not existing" species in Tuscany... :shock: :lol:


I think that at some point (right place, right weather, experience in herping...), it's all about luck. We were surprised that we haven't seen a single losgissimus on our trip, what shouldn't be a rare species there....
(but we can't complain about that :lol: )

the asp vipers are my favorit finds of our journey too, as I was really hoping to see at least one with this nice red coloration :D
Also it was a pretty funny situation, as the viper was found right behind a sunbathing lady on top of a ground edge...
But the people were pretty cool, just curious about what we are taking pictures of and a bit surprised to actually see a snake, although there are signs about the local wildlife around the beach...


switching back to the other caves I mentioned, and animals which are not easy to take pictures of (maybe just for me, as I'm more into snakes :lol: )

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Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and my girlfriend even spotted a youngster :D
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Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



as we all heated up in the sun after taking pictures in the cave, we watched some wall lizards basking as well...

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Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr

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Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


the next, cloudy day we spent some more time on the hunt for salamanders...

but first we met our first italian frog
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Rana italica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



in the wet parts next to the little stream our friend found this little guy...
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Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


showing the bright side
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Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



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Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and here is the thrid species of cave salamanders :D

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Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



but we had not finished with streams, the next one was a bit bigger...
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Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



As the next day started sunny we started from Genoa into the west of Ligura, actually in the hope for some Malpolon, but curious what else we could find there...

suprisingly the first herp turned out to be a slow worm :)
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Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



some clouds came up and the weather started to change to our disadvantage, but still some goodluck... or just the right species :P
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Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



behind some bushes and brambles we saw another cave and gave it a try... less individuals than on the other, way moister caves but still...
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cave by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



after a great pizza almost in the middle of nowhere we spent some time herping in the dark...
as some stonewalls turned out to be good on that day, we went on checking some of them
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Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



and that's what we've been looking for...
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Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


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Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




As we had to cross Italy from west to east, we always hand in mind that the mountains of Piemont were not too far away, but risky as we knew the situation at our mountains, still too snowy for vipers by now... ...while checking the social medias, it turned out to be just the right time to be at this place, so we gave it a try.

ok the ride north was longer than expected :lol:
next time you see if we reached the place we've been looking for ;)


regards
Markus

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:50 am
by Mario Schweiger
great serie of nice species :!: :!:

Re: NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 1:07 pm
by Peter Oefinger
amazing findings - congrats!