last weekend we had been at the Lacertidae meeting in Gersfeld/Rhön in Germany. Saturday afternoon we did a quick trip to the mountains nearby, to an area, called "Rotes Moor" to search for Vipera berus. - We found none
But beside around 50 Zootocas we saw some amphibians.
It must have been quite dry there during the last time!
- drying out egg clutches of Rana temporaria
- drying out egg clutches of Rana temporaria
Close by we found one subadult Rana temporaria
- subadult Rana temporaria
below logs and rocks some newts
- Lissotriton vulgaris
- Lissotriton vulgaris
Josef "Pepp" Schmidtler told us, its very uncommon to find L. vulgaris at such "a high altitude" in the German central mountains.
Below a larger rock we found 4 L. vulgaris and one L. helveticus together
- 5 Lissotriton. The red arrow points to the L. helveticus
- Lissotriton helveticus
- difference between L. vulgaris (left) and L. helveticus (right)
During 4 hours in my moor nearby on Wednesday last week, I only found some Zootocas, but no Vipera berus. No clouds and much to warm (27°C at noon).
So I visited the place this morning again, arriving there around 8 a.m.
Within 5 hours, beside lots of Zootocas only one "subadult" Vipera berus male, approx. 45 cm. No adults to see.
Where the hell is the mating place - I havnt found it during all the years
I think the male, found today, doesnt join the mating. He was still on his winter/early spring place.
- todays aspect of the moor
- Zootoca "baby" from last year
- another view to the bog
- adult vivipara
- info sheet along the nature trail. watch the scientific name! The German words say: "This venomous adder likes to bask on rodden logs. The reputation of this nice snake is more worst than she would earn, biting only when heavily disturbed. But anyway, please stay on the trail.
- Vipera berus male
- Vipera berus male
btw, I´m very sorry, not replying to all your nice postings and uploaded good to very good pictures
But I´m running out of time at the moment.
Mario