Franche-Comté (F) 2012

[Stéphane Aubry]

Today was a day off for me, I took the opportunity to jump the border from Switzerland to France for a 5 hours herping session in Franche-Comté.

My target was Vipera berus. I had no specific spot but I remembered a caution panel "Vipères" near a small lake where I was last years for birding...

And very quickly I was lucky enough to discover my first V. berus since 28 years (it's not easy to find them when you are always looking in the sky... ), an adult in moulting period !

I tried to find another one in different other places but I saw only some Z. vivipara...

However it was a great day for me

More pics of this adder : http://www.pbase.com/stephaubry/vipera_berus_020412

and the Z. vivipara : http://www.pbase.com/stephaubry/zootoca_vivipara

[Guillaume Gomard]

Hi Stéphane,

Good way to spend a day off It's interesting to know that V.berus is occuring in this place, I thought there were only asp vipers. Thanks for sharing!

[Stéphane Aubry]

It's interesting to know that V.berus is occuring in this place, I thought there were only asp vipers. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Guillaume,

In this area of marshes ("tourbières" in french), there is certainly only V. berus but further in the north in the region I think we should find V. aspis. If Bastien read this post, he will be probably able to answer...

I will probably try another investigation there in the next weeks. Not far from my home

[Bastien Comment]

I didn't take much time recently to post my herping sessions reports but here are some pictures of May taken in Franche-Comté with Stéphane. You might recognize a few snakes from a previous post of Stéphane but I think we never have too much right ?

14.05.2012

The team was composed of Stéphane, my friend Yannick and I. First stop was to look for Vipera berus. We only found 1, a pretty nice clear male.

Second stop was to look for Hierophis viridiflavus. We found a nice big individual.

And third stop was to look for Zamenis longissimus and Hierophis viridflavus.

First Zamenis found under a wood board.

Second and third Zamenis found only a few meters away from each other, one in the bushes and the other one under a plate.

The second.

The third, a pretty big one.

And a Hierophis from the same place. Between 4 and 5 escaped in the bushes when Stéphane found this one!

[Bastien Comment]

28.05.2012

Same trip as on the 14th but this time with Stéphane, his son Thomas and my father. No luck unfortunately at the berus spot but as you'll see, we were about to have another surprise. At our regular spot for Zamenis longissimus and Hierophis viridiflavus, this is what we saw:

I let you imagine how small and silent we've become so that we wouldn't disturb them...

Obviously, I have more pictures that I'll put in another topic because this deserves its own topic!

And finally, a last one found in the same area.

[Guillaume Gomard]

New herping session in the Franche-Comté region, this time with Stéphane Aubry, David Guerra, Philippe Wolf and myself. The main goal was to find Vipera berus, so we met quite early to take profit from the cool temperatures (<20°C, sunny). After 2 hours in the field (we tried 2 different habitats), we finally found a quasi-melanic specimen in the shade (most common form at this place). Bufo bufo, Pelophylax sp. and Zootoca vivipara were also observed during this morning.

Before looking for vipers (it was quite hard to find something, only one Z.longissimus seen and no H.viridiflavus, which is quite surprising for this place)

In the search of V.berus

Terra typica

Adult specimen observed at around 10 a.m

More pictures at: http://www.pbase.com/stephaubry/vipera_berus_090812

Guillaume

[Stéphane Aubry]

Thank you Bastien and Guillaume for posting some pics of our field sessions

[Bastien Comment]

A small trip I made alone during my holidays in end of July. My goal was to find back a place where I had been when I was a child 22 years ago in a kind of snake safari with 2 herpers. I've been able to find it and I was very happy to see that it was still wild and still had snakes (at least I found 1 there, the 2nd was not in the same area).

First reward of the day.

This is where I found this asp viper, just on the right at the very begining of the trees.

The habitat.

And to finish the day, a nice Hierophis viridiflavus.

In attack mode.

Hope you enjoy, I also have some nice pictures from Switzerland taken in July and August that I'll add very soon

Cheers!

[Bastien Comment]

Here are some more pictures taken in September in Franche-Comté.

Beauty of the day, a melanic Vipera berus.

Habitat.

Hierophis viridflavus.

Habitat.

[Guillaume Gomard]

Bastien, I think you were quite lucky to observe the other non-melanic berus. What I have in mind is that the melanic individuals represent about 80% of the berus population there. Anyway, gorgeous animal!