Last Minute Trip to Catalonia

[Thomas Brown]

Hello all,

I've made a bit of a last minute decision to pop over to Catalunya to visit my parents for a week next Saturday and am planning on heading out to see what herps are in the area. Has anyone ever been to this part of Spain and found locations with reasonable species diversity? I don't need specific spots, as everything will be new to me, I'm not searching for specific species, just a general idea of places to head to would give me a good start.

I'm flying in to Girona, but will be staying along the Costa Brava, I'm planning on hiring a car for a few days, so can travel a bit.

I'll be very close to the Aiguamolls parc and will probably pop there for a look anyway and I know the Cap de Creus area, so will have a try there too, but if anyone has any idea of other general areas?

Just to reiterate, I'm not trying to get specific locations, I just want to try and avoid spending my whole time searching in areas with very limited scope to find much at all. I am particularly fond of amphibians, so I am aiming to try and find places with some freshwater habitats.

[Bart Smit]

hi thomas,

the aiguamolls is really worth a visit. Podarcis hispanicus, Lacerta bilineata, rana perezi, natrix maura, hyla m., there's lots to see. Just make sure not to go during the weekend since there are too many locals visiting the park.

Have fun !

Bart

[Thomas Brown]

Hi Bart

Excellent thanks for that, I'm really pleased to know the Aiguamolls has a few species to keep an eye out for, it's so close to where I'll be staying I should be able to cycle there.

I've been out to the area so many times over the years, mostly when I was a fair bit younger, when I suppose frogs were less on my youthful mind, but I feel ridiculous that I've never gone in for a proper look.

Would you know of any other places I should aim for in that area? Any inland sites? I was thinking of heading up into the mountains, maybe even as far as the Pyranees for a day or two.

[Thomas Brown]

I returned from my trip yesterday and am still going through the photos, but thought I'd post a quick update and a species list. I didn't get shots of all the animals I saw, the snakes were especially frustratingly speedy and alert, I'll post some shots up later in the week of any decent ones I did manage to get.

It was a really great trip though and I really enjoyed looking at a place fairly familiar to me with a new sense of focus, but it definitely highlighted the advantages of better local knowledge when searching for wildlife, especially a bit more species specifics (I have up until this trip been very ignorant about European herps and their habits). I was mostly relying on driving and spotting potential spots from the car, or random forest trails, but it was definitely a good 'scouting' trip, I just hope to go back soon with some improved knowledge.

Salamndra salamndra
Triturus helveticus
Triturus marmoratus
Alytes obstetricans
Discoglossus pictus
Bufo bufo
Epidalea calamita
Hyla meridionalis
Rana perezi
Mauremys leprosa
Terentola mauritanica
Timon Lepidus
Podarcis muralis
Podarcis hispanica
Psammodromus algirus
Rhinechis scalaris
Malpolon monspessulanus
Natrix maura