Liguria - May, 2016
4 days, this is what I had to find most of the herps of Liguria (and a bit of Northern Tuscany).
I made this awesome trip with a great friend who will recognize himself for sure even if I do not quote his name (as he asked me not to do). Thanks a lot to another friend (who's also able to recognize himself) for the informations he gave me to help me on the road of success.
Well, this is the report of "a little bit more than" 4 days in Italy.
Tuesday, the 3rd of May
You know how it feels when you finally leave your home to enjoy holiday time. You feel like free, like nothing could happen to you because this time, you're going to fully enjoy what you're the best for... looking for herps !
We left home after work, leaving Lyon in the end of the afternoon to reach Torino. Our plan? Sleep near the "Riserva Naturale Speciale della Lanca di San Michele" where a rare frog occurs. It is rare almost everywhere it occurs and, moreover, we're not going at the mating period so our chances were so low... But if you know us, you'll know we never give up without a try !
So that specie we've been looking for is named Italian agile frog (Rana latastei) or Lataste's frog if you prefer this name.
Ok, to be honest, we failed... But we did see some great things that night (really late as we've been driving from Lyon to Torino in the end of the day).
First, we've heard dozens of Italian tree frog (Hyla intermedia) and we did see some ! That's a cool tree frog that almost exactly looks like our European tree frog mixed up with the Stripeless tree frog. While trying to find some, we found a dead Grass snake (Natrix natrix), what is not the best sighting I had with this snake...
All around the ponds we found, we've seen lots of Pool frogs (Pelophylax lessonae) and maybe Marsh frogs but not for sure so I won't keep it in mind.
Many Common toad (Bufo bufo) tadpoles were seen in the water and the last observation of the night has been made while coming back to the car with a very impressively jumping Agile frog (Rana dalmatina).
The Italian agile frog is very close to Agile frog (as they're related), so I let you imagine what kind of feelings I had seeing this frog jumping before I realized it was not the precious.
Wednesday, the 4th of May
Ok, I planned to wake up early (like 7 a.m) to move as soon as possible but we both woke up around 8:30 a.m. Hard to wake up early, even on holiday !
We said goodbye to the frogs, as some tree frogs were still singing during the day, and headed South, enjoying Torino's view on mountains while leaving.
Impressive, isn't it? That's the kind of things I'm glad to enjoy when I travel. Clearly, this picture is far from showing how awesome it looks for real.
A few hours of intense driving later, we reached Lorsica surrounds. We had a spot for Apennine yellow-bellied toad (Bombina pachypus) we had to look for, but the map I had was not precise enough to allow us to reach the exact point... We failed again (it started to be worrying).
The spot was supposed to be near a stream, and we did find this stream. Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis nigriventris) were really common around here and in the quiet pieces of water we found along the stream, we observed some Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) larvae.
As I wanted some pictures of it, I looked under little rocks in the water and how surprises was I to discover my first Italian stream frog (Rana italica) like this ! Really nice sighting !
As we didn't find our toads and we had troubles finding more, we started looking at orchids.
I'm sorry I'm very far to be an expert so I don't know the name of some italian orchids.
While doing this, we surprisely found a Common toad (Bufo bufo) hidden under leaves.
May I tell you? We had troubles finding the spot but also reaching the point because of dangerous cliffs. I tried to climb it and failed to break my leg twice... Sometimes you better have to renounce.
Our next stop was near Cinque Terre region, near the city of... ahah, secret spot guys ;) It's a cave where it's clearly written you'll find amphibians ! We've been there especially for a special one, a cave salamander. Its name? Ambrosi's cave salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii). We found it (thanks !) and there were a lot. As most of the cave salamanders, it has a small range so you have to know the spots to find it. And for the story, the three species of continental Italy absolutely looks like the same. So you better know where you are to see on a range map which one you've seen. In front of the cave, there was a river with some Common toad (Bufo bufo) tadpoles.
And all around, Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) and Italian wall Lizard (Podarics siculus) living their lives.
When you finish with a cave salamander, you just go to another spot for another cave salamander.
Not the same of course, this one is named Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes italicus).
The spot is almost as secret as the previous one so I'm sorry not to tell the name of the place but you have to know it's still in a cave with very slippery entrance. So slippery that I asked myself how I'll get out right after I came in... But as I'm writing this report, you may doubt I've found a way.
After that, we were completely dirty (I love mud but that's not the best way to stay clean) and we had to find a shower ! After asking a too expensive hostel price (110€), we asked a camping who took us for 23€ + 1€ for the shower's hot water (ok, warm but not hot). Still expensive but better than staying dirty.
I did take my shower and we went back on the road for a night try.
Dead Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) and Italian slow worm (Anguis veronensis) to start, not what I wanted for sure... Many Common toads (Bufo bufo) on the road, even alive !
Finally, we managed to find a pretty awesome looking stream where we quickly found our first Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) larvae and Italian cave salamanders (Speleomantes italicus). Moreover, some Italian stream frogs (Rana italica) showed up.
A great night to remember until we came back to the camping where we found it closed... Cars not allowed after 11 p.m and it was already 1:30 a.m... We had to sleep outside (that's why I'm a bit sad we had to pay 23€ just for a shower...).
Thursday, the 5th of May
Time to head South to reach our southern destination which was Monte Argentario.
On the way, we stopped in the hills between Piombino and Orbetello as we were looking for the Four-lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata) which is not rare there.
We first stopped along a road where we noticed rocks and well exposed vegetation. Great for snakes ! And it was, we first found the shed and, a few minutes later, the snake. A Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) ways more common than any other snakes in the region.
Some lizards came to see what happened (that's not true but that's another way to tell you what we also found there) such as the Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata), the Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) and the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus). Even what are supposed to be skinks.
That's not exactly the snake we've been looking for but still nice to find a snake anyway.
No surprise, we found the same snake (twice !), a Moorish gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) on Monte Argentario and some nice looking orchids.
Monte Argentario is known to be a place where some species you almost only find on islands can be seen such as painted frogs but to find this amphibian you have to find water holes... And we didn't see one excepted a large pond for rain water (not really suitable for frogs).
While looking for new places to try our snake karma, we noticed an old mine where rocks seemed to say "Return me please". You know how we are, if we can please them we won't hesitate a second. My friend returned a big one and BINGO ! Some Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus) but also Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) ! Not especially rare (at least here) but new.
Too tired to spend the night looking for frogs (as we didn't find water holes the task seemed really complicated), we slept at the summit of Monte Argentario.
Friday, the 6th of May
Half of the trip yet and already a satisfying one. As always, tell whatever you want but I don't feel like I had success with that kind of trip. I need more snakes, more turtles. There's always something missing until I'm back home and look at my pictures and then think "yes, that was nice".
Back to the hills between Piombino and Orbetello but this time, heading North, we found an almost dried river with some nice looking water holes.
As soon as we parked the car, a huge Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata) welcomed us making noise in the vegetation.
Around the water holes, we saw many frogs. Mostly Italian pool frog (Pelophylax bergeri) and Italian edible frog (Pelophylax kl. hispanicus) but maybe more...
And then, walking along the vegetation, the big surprise ! I didn't expect to find this there and neither did my friend but we found 2 Asp vipers (Vipera aspis francisciredi) !
As usual, Western whip snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus) were around as we found 2.
And what's more awesome is what we found inside the water holes !
First, we saw a European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) on the ground (big one) and then, three very small ones in the water.
For real, I was very happy.
These observations took us some time but we still had plenty to do something else so we took the GPS and looked for a place to go. As we had no satellite map, we found a river crossed by a railway. Railways (and rivers) are known to be refugees for many reptiles so this sounds to be the right place to go !
It was indeed. My friend found his beloved Italian three-toed skink (Chalcides chalcides) and I found a beautiful (as always) Italian slow worm (Anguis veronensis).
After that, we also found magnificient snakes such as a Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus), 3 Aesculapian snakes (Zamenis longissimus) and a Southern smooth snake (Coronella girondica). Not that bad not to say it was really good !
No need to go further, especially when the night is coming and we wanted to find a camping (for a shower, again) so we drove back to Cinque Terre region for a night herping.
Camping prices were very expensive and they almost all close their door at 11 p.m so we were not ready to pay if we sleep outside... So we renounced to our shower and went on the field even if singing Stripeless tree frogs (Hyla meridionalis) may have incited us to stay.
Many Common toad (Bufo bufo) on the road as expected and some Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandre) larvae in a stream. A few Ambrosi's cave salamanders (Speleomantes ambrosii) on rocks and a very young Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) found under a wooden plank to complete the sightings of the day.
Saturday, the 7th of May
Last day of the trip for sure as the Sunday was dedicated to return journey to Lyon.
Our main goal for the day was to find a Spectacled salamander North of Genova.
We drove to a first spot where a small stream flows on the North side of a mountain. Pretty good for salamanders. We found a dead Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) on the road and some larvae in the stream where they shared the space with two Italian stream frogs (Rana italica). All around the stream, we noticed big woods on the floor and we've been possessed by a mysterious power saying "look under it" evertime we found one. A good idea in the end as we finally found 5 North-west Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes strinatii) !
But no spectacled salamander there.
Hopefully, I had another spot to visit for this amphibian so we drove there as soon as we finished with the previous spot.
This region is beautiful. Streams, forests, mountains and castles are so charming !
As soon as we arrived on the spot, I started looking for our target and I surprisely found it really quickly moving during the day... As the place was really nice we decided to stay until the night comes to see if we can see more of these impressive but small Northern spectacled salamanders (Salamandrina perspicillata).
As in almost every stream we've been looking at, Italian steam frogs (Rana italica) and Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) larvae were present.
And our target, the Spectacled salamander was more abundant than expected ! We found 12 during the night and moreover, one was laying eggs in the water !
This faithfull night was the last one for us and we proudly stopped our trip there with a last observation of a Scorpion walking on a wall. Always funny to think about scorpions in the mountains !
Thanks for reading it and I hope you enjoyed ! Italy is a really nice place to visit with awesome wildlife so if you want to see new things without going too far from Home, you may think about it !
SPECIES LIST
Italian tree frog (Hyla intermedia)
Stripeless tree frog (Hyla meridionalis) Pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae) Italian pool frog (Pelophylax bergeri) Italian edible frog (Pelophylax kl. hispanicus) Agile frog (Rana dalmatina) Italian stream frog (Rana italica) Common toad (Bufo bufo) Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) Northern spectacled salamander (Salamandrina perspicillata) Ambrosi's cave salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii) Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes italicus) North-west Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes strinatii)
European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) Italian Wall Lizard (Podarics siculus) Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata) Italian slow worm (Anguis veronensis) Italian three-toed skink (Chalcides chalcides) Moorish gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) Southern smooth snake (Coronella girondica) Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) Asp viper (Vipera aspis)
