Saturday 22nd August.
Most of the day was spent travelling and it was late and dark when we arrived at our accommodation in S'Algar in the east of the island, a quick look outside while unpacking gave the first herp of the trip , a Moorish gecko Tarentola mauritanica
Sunday 23rd
With the temperature being forecast in the 30s for the week, I headed out at first light to a location near the airport where I had previously seen an M cucullatus. This year I was disappointed to find only T mauritanica and Hermann's toroise T hermanni and Italian wall lizard Podarcis siculus, this was to repeat itself several times during the week.
The rest of the day was a visit to the Fornells area and then Suzanne and I went swimming at a beautiful little cove where most of the women seemed to have forgotten their bikini tops, which was nice.
Monday 24th
Up again at first light and a walk along a nearby trail where I found 7 T hermanni including a mating pair, lots of T mauritanica beneath stones and a few P siculus catching the morning sun.
I returned to the villa and told Kay about the tortoises, she then expressed a desire to see them and I felt bad about her lack of mobility and how she wouldn't be able to see them, I then looked up and saw one walking towards us on next doors lawn! The neighbour then came out of her house and I explained the situation to her and minutes later Kay was holding a tortoise, a few photos later and it was returned to the garden to continue it's journey. Lunch was eaten at Es Grau and several Turtle doves Streptopelia turtur were seen in the carpark.
A night time search around the complex gave just more T mauritanica plus a scorpion with it's young on it's back.
Tuesday 25th
Not much herping today and an early morning visit to a beach on the south coast with a fresh water inlet gave a few camera shy Red eared terrapins Trachemys scripta elegans and a T hermanni hiding in the base of a wall.
Wednesday 26th
Up before light and drove across the island to Cala galdana , a rough field I surveyed last year had now been ploughed and lifting a few stones once again gave only T mauritanica but a visit to a spot where last year I found a trapped European pond terrapin Emys obicularis was once again successful with one spotted in some shallow water.
The rest of the day was spent at local beaches where I soon found P siculus and T mauritanica
Thursday 27th
An early morning check of the bushes around yesterdays beaches gave a few P siculus and so I returned to the villa. I grabbed a drink and walked next to the bushes by the back door and something strange happened. I walked along fed up with the limited species seen and said out loud to myself "It would be just my luck now to look down and see a snake disappearing into the bush" Well I looked down and stood in disbelief as I watched the tail end of an M cucullatus disappearing into the bush, I dived at the bush but was a second too late and despite sweeping the piles of dead leaves out I had missed it. Suzanne could tell by the look on my face that something bad had happened and just waited for me to relate the tale.I then had to sit myself down and convince my self that it was an M cucullatus and would count on my list but I was left feeling very disappointed. I then got my camera and had a look in the small rocky garden surrounding the pool and found T hermanni,P siculus,T mauritanica and a Turkish gecko Hemidactylus turcicus. In the afternoon we went to Ciutadella and stopped off at a location to search for Moroccan Rock lizard Teira perspicillata, as it was very hot and we unsure of wheelchair access we stopped just for a few minutes and looked in the car park and I soon found several individuals. Feeling rather happier now we moved into town and visited the cathederal etc. A night time search across the road in a rough walled area gave nothing.
Friday 28th.
I decided not to travel this morning but instead would try and see the garden snake again and get a more positive ID. I returned from the garden for a cup of tea and found that I had not downloaded yesterdays photos from the camera but had just opened the camera file and looked at them before pulling out the lead and then later deleting them. this means I had deleted the pictures of T perspiicilata and the only H turcicus I had found. A quick visit to the pool garden got me some more H turcicus pics but I would have to go all the across the island to replace my T pespicillata . I then remembered that I had saved one of the pics as a desktop background and so saved myself the journey and downloaded the pic.
Saturday 29th
This was our last day on the island and my last chance for missing species, no pressure. Up at dawn to check for the garden snake but no luck so I moved up the steps to the pool area where I soon found a T hermanni hiding in the base of a wall. I crossed the road to the rough area above the cliffs and spent a while checking along the walls and piles of stones but found no sign of a snake anywhere. I resigned my self to the fact that we would just have to come back to Menorca and so turned wearily back to the villa, I had gone a few metres and there in front of me was an M cucullatus crossing the open ground in front of me. Happy happy.
This called for a good old cup of tea to celebrate and once all the fuss had died down and the others were asking what to do with the rest of the day, I suggested a visit to a place on the east coast where I could photograph a Lilford's wall lizard Podarcis lilfordi, luckily Suzanne and Kay agreed and off we went. We soon arrived and after wading across to the island I found myself waiting in the midday sun waiting for a lizard to show itself. 10 minutes later I had my picture ,another species on the holiday list and on my way to a jug of Sangria.
We still had a few hours to kill so I suggested a visit to a location on the coast but without any herping in mind, as we drove along the road we passed a small pool and I was surprised to see it still contained water. I parked the car and walked back hoping maybe to see a Viperine snake Natrix maura but was very pleased instead to find 5 E obicularis.
This visit didn't take as long as expected and so as I needed a better T scripta pic we set off again for the coast and soon had one in my sights.
That was the end of our trip and we returned to the UK after having a lovely holiday and finding 9 species including my own M cucullatus
