Germany and French border 2013 [complete]

[Guillaume Gomard]

In this topic, I'll gather the pictures of 2013 taken in Germany (mainly in the Baden-Württemberg region), but also in France not very far from the German border.

I'm starting it with a one day herping session done in France yesterday (01.04.13). I first wanted to look for V.berus close to Konstanz but due to the bad weather, I had to change my plans so I chose to look for asp vipers instead. Thanks to quite cold temperatures (around 6°C at 9 a.m) and to a sunny weather, I managed to observe 3 Vipera within 1 hour. As those were my first snakes of 2013, I spent the whole morning observing them. I missed them so much

V.aspis #1 catching the first sunrays at 9h30 a.m:

Second viper observed at around 10 a.m, completely exposed:

A P.muralis. I only observed two of them during this session...

The last and third asp found at few meters from the second one.

Conclusion: 3 asp vipers worth 100 millions Easter Bunny!

[Andre Schmid]

Congrats on the asp vipers !

[Jürgen Gebhart]

It was a good decision not to come to the Allgäu, we had a few snowflakes on the Easter weekend!

Big congrats on the Asps! I have to find one, soon!!!

[Guillaume Gomard]

Yes it was finally a good idea to look somewhere else, but the goal of Allgäu was also to discover a new place which is always interesting. Anyway, I'll have the occasion to go there soon I guess...

[Guillaume Gomard]

Last week-end (14.04.13) I visited the same spot in the hope of observing some aspis activity. I arrived at around 9 a.m. Thanks to a particularly favorable weather (sunny, no wind, temperatures around 15°C in the morning), I spotted the first viper within two minutes:

After few in situ shots, the snake considered that it was safer to hide inside a rocky wall:

10 minutes later, I found again the same specimen at its usual basking spot. This time, I decided to take pictures from a long distance to avoid bothering the snake.

Later, at around 11 a.m, I discovered that the snake was not fully exposed anymore, but only its head could be distinguished from the vegetation:

I was really pleased to notice a second snake which was moving with a characteristic jerky motion. I observed the mating activity for 1 approximately hour:

In the surroundings, I found a muddy V.aspis which was blending in its biotope quite efficiently:

At 20 meters from the previous snake, I found a beautiful viper basking in the bushes.
In situ picture:

Non in situ pictures, close-up of the head of the same snake:

Finally, 30 minutes later, this snake was engaged in a frenetic mating activity. I could enjoy the puffing sound for 30 minutes at few centimeters of the snakes, which didn't pay attention to my presence:

A last shot of this great morning, a simple P.muralis, just to prove that I am not an asp viper monomaniac

Guillaume

[Andre Schmid]

Very cool ! Hope to make also a trip to the french site this year...

[Jürgen Gebhart]

Congrats on your observations! Very nice!!

[Daniel Kane]

Yes, congratulations Guillaume. Sounds like a great morning. The year of the snake seems to be going well so far for a few members!

[Bobby Bok]

The picture with the two viper heads is the best for me, great observations!

[Guillaume Gomard]

Thanks for your comments, the year of the snake is indeed a good one, in spite of the strange weather!