NW Italy - Tuscany, Liguria & Piemont 2017

Hey folks,
back from our herptrip through north-west italy and frezzing my a** off here in snowy vienna, so it's nice to look over the pictures of the last days...
So please enjoy...

After seeing some mediterranean species in croatia a few years ago, we decided to look westward for some new species.
So after a long drive we started at Monte Argentario a bit south of Grosseto, Tuscany.
Really a nice place, too dry to see our main target (Discoglossus), but great weather for some other herps...


Porto Santo Stefano by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Tarentola mauritanica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Hemidactylus turcicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Ophrys sp. by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



On the mainland we took a closer look at the area around Grosseto...

they gave nice concerts right next to our room

Bufotes viridis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



tuscany by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Elaphe quatuorlineata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Hierophis viridiflavus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and then, the first viper, and what a beautiful specimen

Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


another tortoise crossed our way on one of the hills...

Testudo hermanni hermanni by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


easy to see, but hard to get a picture of this cute fellows

Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Chalcides chalcides by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


time to relax at the beach that the nice lady at the reception recommanded...



and what a great beach

Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Vipera aspis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


at a little pond, we found a pretty grass snake...

Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


heading north and a little bit into the mountains on some horribly narrow streets, just to climb down into the lokal dump...

the hole by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


but it was absolutly worth it  

Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes italicus by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



the last one for today... no herp, but a must see in that area  

torre di Pisa by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Some more caves and herps from Liguria next time....

regards
Markus

Thank you, Markus,

very nice pictures. That must have been a wunderful trip.

It really was Rainer, more succesful than I imagined

As I mentioned we came along some other caves we looked into...

Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and my girlfriend even spotted a youngster

Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes ambrosii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



as we all heated up in the sun after taking pictures in the cold cave, we watched some wall lizards basking as well...


Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Podarcis muralis nigriventris by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


the next, cloudy day we spent some more time on the hunt for salamanders...

but first we met our first italian frog

Rana italica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



in the wet parts near the little stream our friend found this little guy...

Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


showing the bright side

Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




Salamandrina perspicillata by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


and here is the thrid species of cave salamanders  


Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



and we had not finished with streams, the next one was a bit bigger...

Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Natrix maura by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



As the next day started sunny we started from Genoa into the west of Ligura , actually in the hope for some Malpolon, but curious what else we could find there...

suprisingly the first herp turned out to be a slow worm  

Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Anguis veronensis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



some clouds came up and the weather started to change to our disadvantage, but still some goodluck... or just the right species  

Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



behind some bushes and brambles we saw another cave and gave it a try... less individuals than on the other, way moister caves but still...

cave by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Speleomantes strinatii by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



after a great pizza almost in the middle of nowhere we spent some time herping in the dark...
as some stonewalls turned out to be good on that day, we went on checking some of them

Coronella girondica by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



and that's what we've been looking for...

Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Euleptes europaea by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




As we had to cross Italy from west to east, we always hand in mind that the mountains of Piemont were not too far away, but risky as we knew the situation at our mountains, still too snowy for vipers by now... ...while checking the social medias, it turned out to be just the right time to be at this place, so we gave it a try.

ok the ride north was longer than expected  
next time you see if we reached the place we've been looking for


regards
Markus

Nice man. Thx for sharing

Sorry for the looong break...
On we go now with some more pictures from the Piemont-area:
after cruising around on some narrow streets (again) and a bit of hiking through really nice alpine habitat we came across the first herps...

Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf
Flickr



Coronella austriaca by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Like in the last days wind came up again and brought some clouds, so not the best weather to enjoy basking... we move on trying to reach another montainside, what turned out to be the right choice  
our firend Kai found this little guy on it's way home from breakfast...


Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr




Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


sun came out again....

Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



Vipera walser by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr





Last day and to make the loong way home a bit more enjoyable we stopped in south tyrol, met a friend of mine and went out to look for (actually ammodytes, but as we didn't find them lets generally say) snakes  

beside a nice brown whip snake and a young smooth snake we found this black grass snake, pretty cool  

Natrix natrix by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


also the wall lizards were really curios and I could get quite close...

Podarcis muralis muralis by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr



On my way through the slopes, a butterfly followed me for a while always I moved on he came after me, landing on a flower right in front, so after the third time I took a picture of it, which is a nice end for my report here, I think  

Iphiclides podalirius by Markus Oulehla, auf Flickr


Hope you enjoy the pictures!

regards
Markus

"Hope you enjoy the pictures!" - Yes I really did! Thanks again, Markus.

Best regards, Rainer