Eurotrip

France, British isles

Eurotrip

Postby Kevin Byrnes » Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:58 pm

At the end of March my wife and I went on a road trip in our camper van visiting a few countries and hopefully finding a few herps along the way.Following some clues from trip reports we decided that our first stop was to search for Parsley frogs Pelodytes punctatus. We parked at the location near Lille and went for a walk checking a pond in a field but finding only what looked like spawn of Rana temporaria.We headed for the hill but took a different path and ended up slightly lost but a walk up some very steep steps took us straight to the pond.
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I was rather excited to see this pond but disappointed to find no sign of life whatsoever, we moved along to a shallow clear pond but once again there was nothing present so we returned to the van broken hearted. A few hours later and following a brief rain shower I stepped out of the van to be almost deafened with the sound of amphibians calling from the hill.Camera,torch,boots, coat let's go, we raced back up the hill and checked a shallow clear pond. The torchlight fell straightaway upon several Natterjack toads Bufo calamites on the pond edge and then some movement in the water attracted my attention, it was a rolling ball of Parsley frogs P punctatus in amplexus. These were the first Parsley frogs I had seen so I stayed a while to take in the scene, several more were seen here plus some Palmate newts Lissotriton helveticus. We then moved over to the main pond which had been dead in the afternoon but now was a mass of Natterjack toads B calamites calling, there were approximately 60 toads here along with several Common toads Bufo bufo and a few Parsley frogs .

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Leaving France we headed for Switzerland and a revisit to a lake high in the hills that we had visited last summer, my trip planning had not really taken into account the fact that it was now March although finding this in the car park should have been a clue.
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We started the long climb to the lake area hoping to find vipers on the exposed slopes but it started to snow, pressing on we eventually reached the village but found the lake frozen and the area covered in a thick layer of snow. Not having seen snow for a long time we enjoyed the novelty of it and walked through the village in awe of the scenery.

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We left here and headed for Italy, and as we entered Italy we drove past a sunny grassy bank with a few broken stone walls, we parked the van and soon found this Asp Vipera aspis sunning itself.

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We drove down to a location near Torino to search for the Spadefoot toad Pelobates fuscus , we parked next to a nature reserve and soon found Wall lizards Podarcis muralis in the hedge. We met two men in the reserve who gave us a tour and luckily for us one of them spoke English, they phoned their boss explaining that there was an English couple here trying to photograph amphibians. He arrived 10 minutes later with a bunch of flowers and a bag of sweets for Suzanne and then we followed him back to another of their reserves where they were increasing the local population of P fuscus in special nursery ponds. With his help we soon saw a Spadefoot toad and an Italian tree frog Hyla intermedia, some American bullfrog tadpoles Lithobates catesbeianus were seen and a Red eared terrapin Trachemys scripta elegans was caught and removed from a small ditch.
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We headed south to camp for the night ready for a morning search for the cave salamander Spleomantes ambrosii.
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In the morning we drove the few miles to our intended cave and as we passed a quarry we saw several Chamois Rupicapra rupicapra, we arrived at our destination and after giving thanks at what looked like the patron saint of herping we entered the cave.

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Despite searching very carefully from the entrance to deep within the cave the only life we found was a few bats, moths and crickets, we searched a few others nearby but with the same results so headed for Genoa.We stopped before Genoa hoping to find a Three toed skink Chalcides chalcides in a grassy area but when we arrived we found it was full of people having picnics so had a quick walk through a bushy hill finding only Wall lizards P m nigriventris. I didnt feel too bad not finding the skink when I looked round and noticed this house on the hill on the path of a landslide.

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We drove down into Genoa and soon found plenty of Wall lizards.
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We left town and headed for our evenings destination, a tower where we hoped to find the European leaf toed gecko Euleptes europaea, the route to the top was rather tortuous and Suzanne did not want to leave and return in the dark so we parked the van up and stayed there. An afternoon searcch of the area gave several Western green lizards Lacerta bilineata but an evening search and 2 nightime searches with a torch for the gecko proved fruitless.

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In the morning we headed for La spezia to continue our cave salamander search but as we arrived the heavens opened with torrential rain,hail and lightning. The roads were turned into rivers and we parked up for a while to let it stop, after a while I headed off into a wood to search for a cave but then the rain started again and an hour later I returned to the van absolutely dripping in water and mud but having found no slamanders. :(
We left La spezia and headed north to some lakes I had spotted on Google earth hoping to find some Italian crested newts Triturus carnifex, we climbed higher and higher into the hills passing landslips, broken road surfaces and into the freezing fog and snow.We parked up on the roadside and set the van up for the night before venturing out into the bad weather to check the lake. Here we could hear lots of frogs calling from one end of the lake and wading through the frozen shallows we soon caught some Agile frogs Rana dalmatina.A visit in the dark with a torch revealed lots more frogs, Smooth newts Lissotriton vulgaris meridionalis and Alpine newts Icthyosaurus alpestris, sadly no sign of T carnifex
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We spent a rather chilly night and woke to find our van covered in snow.
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I had been keen on this area after seeing Bobby Bok finding T carnifex in a water tank carved into a boulder next to a church however despite searching the internet I could find no clue to it's whereabouts, imagine my despair when after driving down a rather dangerous road and then a several miles north I glanced over my shoulder as Suzanne drove only to see the church on a hill across the valley. Suzanne asked me if I wanted to try and get there but it would have taken too long to try and find the route so we carried on driving north.We parked near a lake for the night and a torch search gave nothing but a walk around where we were parked gave wall lizards and this frog from a roadside ditch
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From here we crossed back into Switzerland via the Simplon pass and spent the day in the Thermal pools at Ovronnaz soothing our weary bones.The next day we drove to Todtnau in Germany to ride on a 2.4 km rollercoaster type sled ride which was great fun and then back into France. After spending a night in France we decided to head north and revisit the Natterjack pond.After driving all day we finally arrived there and settled down for a well earned glass of wine and a meal. Nightime found us back at the pond and if anything the toads were even louder and more numerous.There seemed to be less P punctatus this time but more B bufo and L helveticus in the smaller pond, the main pond was a mass of very loud B calamites and B bufo
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The next morning we headed to Calais and then home
Kevin Byrnes
 
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:44 am
Hometown: Maesteg
country: Wales

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