Bastien Comment and I met this week for a two-days and intensive herping session taking place in Cantons de Vaud, de Berne and du Valais. The main goal was to photograph V.aspis, but we also had the occasion to observe other snakes (N.maura, N.tessellata, N.natrix and C. austriaca which is quite rare at my place). With temperatures of around 15°C-20°C in the morning, we could observe many vipers (15 or more, mainly melanic ones as you will see). In the afternoon the temperatures were higher, close to 30°C, and we only managed to find one single V.aspis hidden in the grass.
* Canton de Berne & Canton de Vaud*
V. aspis #1
V. aspis #2
V. aspis #3
C. austriaca
V. aspis #4
V. aspis #5 (in situ pictures. This snake was in molting phase and we could approach it very easily)
V. aspis #6
Near the Lake Léman, an adult N.tessellata found under a big rock at the end of the afternoon.
* Canton du Valais*
C. austriaca found in a rocky wall at around 10a.m
Lastly, the highlight of our herping sessions. A magnificent V.aspis observed in the late morning. I used to find darker vipers at this place but the specimen shown below had some very bright orange markings! To be noted that until now, I only oberved pretty short vipers at this particular spot comparing to the melanic ones presented at the beginning of this post.
In short, a fruitful herping session, beautiful landscapes and very good company: What more can you ask for?
Guillaume
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