Thrace, Grekenland - mai 2016

Første uken i mai 2016 dro jeg sammen med gode venner til området rundt byen ALexandoupolis i nord-øst Hellas for å se etter Europas største hoggorm, Ottomans Hoggorm (Montivipera xanthina)

Vi var i området fra søndag til torsdag, den siste dagen brukte vi på veien til flyplassen i Thessaloniki, som ligger ca 3 timers kjøring fra Alexandroopolis.

Som valig(?) var vi ikke spesielt heldige med været. Vi hadde fint vær den første og siste dagen,  med regn og lavere temperaturer i mellom.  Men vi fant uansett noen flotte dyr. Her er noen bilder fra turen.



As usual there was plenty of these large legless lizards (Pseudopis apodis)


There was also plenty of the two species of tortoises that live in this area. I guess we saw in excess of a 100 specimens in total of [i]Testudo hermanni boettgeri[/i] and [i]Testudo graeca ibera[/i], with the Spur-thighed Tortoise as the most common with perhaps 10:1


Testudo graeca ibera


Testudo hermanni boettgeri



Testudo hermanni boettgeri


Near waters we also saw manyMauremys rivulata[









A bit higher up in the forests we also found [i]Bombina variegate[/i] and [i]Bufo viridis[/i]







We also met with some german and austrian herpers/birders that gave me a tip about a road that should be full of amphibians at night time, one of them being Pelobates syriacus which I had never seen before.. I drowe up and down this road and only saw one animal, luckily this was the target species.



[i]Pelobates syriacus[/i]


Not everything exiting in Greece has a vertebrae :)



The grass snake is as always present in these areas ([i]Natrix natrix persa[/i])

For the first time when herping around the Mediterraen sea we was able to get close to, and photograph Montpellier Snakes.. I've been 4 trips and seen many, but the have alwasy escaped any contact at all - I havent got any chance to photograph them. This time we got close to no less than 4 specimens. 2 juveniles and 2 adult.






[i]Malopolon insignitus[/i], juvenile











[i]Malpolon insignitus[/i], adult




The last day, on the way to the airport I also met this beatiful Caspian Whip Snake in a dry riverbed close to Thessaloniki




And we also got lucky with our target species - the Ottoman Viper. We found in total 7 specimens, unfortunatly the ones we got to photograph was rather small and in pre-shed..








[i]Montivipera xanthina[/i]

All in all a great trip - but need to go back and photograph a large and newly-shed one :)