Mainland Greece 8-14 May 2014
By Maykel van Gent, Rob Andriessen and Gerjon Ikink
By Maykel van Gent, Rob Andriessen and Gerjon Ikink
With three men strong, we decided to visit the unknown to
us northern and eastern part of Greece and see what herpetological treasures
awaited us there.
For a little taste of our cultural experiences, check out
this story (in dutch): http://gerjon.blogspot.nl/2014/05/griekenland-veel-meer-dan-wat-eilanden.html
On the 8th of May, we climbed out of the
airplane at Thessaloniki into clear sunny skies at around 20 degrees and after
procuring a car, our adventures could start.
Right outside Thessaloniki, we stopped to scratch our
herping itch and find our first cold blooded land vertebrates. We stopped at a
little illegal dump site and looked under the old kitchen sinks and toilets.
Our itches were satisfied with our first snakes: 5 tiny Worm snakes (Xerotyphlops vermicularis).
On site we also found a Glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus), Greek smooth newt (Lissotriton graecus), our first of many
Eastern Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni boettgeri)
and an adult green lizard (Lacerta spec.)
For our week in Greece, dump sites would be our go-to
place to find a good diversity of herps.
We turned onto the EU subsidized, barely used, highway
and quickly made our way to southern Thrace. Our basecamp would be on the
southern border of Dadia forest.
During an evening stroll into the forest we also found Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus),
a Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
and a couple of juvenile Green lizards (Lacerta
viridis) and some more Hermann’s tortoises.
9 May, Evros
After a feta rich breakfast, we went to the Evros delta.
You need get a permit in advance, because the delta lies on the border with
turkey and both the turks and greeks want to keep an eye on each other and on
us from their watch towers. The delta is truly a wetland and we found mostly Grass snakes (Natrix natrix) and
European pond terrapins (Emys orbicularis).
The reptilian highlight of the wetlands was a juvenile Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius). This is
the biggest wetland in Greece and in winter this is visited by hundreds of
thousands of birds, either migrating of wintering here. In summer there is
still a good number of birds present and most of our time here was spent
looking at birds. Three species of cormorant, spur-winged plover, lesser
grey shrike, little bittern, slender-billed gull and isabelline wheatear are
some of the highlights here. As a bonus, we saw a golden jackal(Canis aureus) cross the road in front of our car.
Once back on dry land we shifted back to the reptiles. We
again found good numbers of worm snakes, Hermann’s tortoise and green lizards.
And under a tiny plank at a dump site we found what we were hoping for: an
adult Ottoman viper (Montivipera xanthina).
It didn’t like our presence and quickly disappeared in the bush before we could
take a picture. It was definitely an exciting find. An adult Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) was more obliging for pictures, begrudgingly.
A flock of glossy ibis in the Evros wetlands.
10 May, Dadia forest
A day trip through the forest was next on the list. It
was another nice day, with temperatures in the low twenties, with a mostly
overcast sky. A stop at a creek outside the village, with a dumpsite next to
it, we found our first Dice snake (Natrix
tessellata) another glass lizard and some juvenile Eastern Balkan green lizards (Lacerta diplochondrodes). The forest itself
is a quiet place. We saw only one person for the entire day, a shepherd and his sheep on
the road. There were traces that this was once a more active tourist
destination, but the buildings we saw were all abandoned and nature was
reclaiming them. Along the road we located some more Hermann’s tortoises and we
also added the Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo
graeca) and the Common toad (Bufo bufo)
to our list. We got off the road and drove a little dirt road down to a small
nice looking creek with completely clear water. This creek was a true hotspot:
Hermann’s tortoise, green lizards, Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii), Erhard’s wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii), Balkan wall lizard (Podarcis taurica), Fire salamander larvae (Salamandra salamandra), Yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) and to round it all off, an Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus). A dump site at the
end of our trip gave us another big adult Montpellier snake. Tired but
satisfied we returned to base for a good greek meal (feta included).
11 May, to Stavroupoli
We started the day with a trip to the local vulture
feeding station. Eastern Greece harbours one of the biggest vulture populations
in Europe, but the vultures are vulnerable to poisoned meat, which is
unfortunately still a widely practiced method of local farmers to get rid of
canine predators like jackals, wolves and feral dogs. Vultures are not the
intended victims, but suffer nonetheless. And because the local population is
moving away, the local livestock population has declined as well, making life
extra difficult for the vultures. It was great to see many vultures at the
feeding station, but it is sad they are dependent on stations like these. We
saw all three species of western Greece: Black vulture, Griffin vulture and
Egyptian vulture.
We made a stop at the creek outside Dadia for one last
look around the forest before departing for the Rhodopi mountains a lot of the
familiars were present: glass lizard, yellow bellied toad, green toad, green
lizards, a very fat common toad, dice snake, Montpellier snake and for our
goodbye, Balkan pond terrapin (Mauremys rivulata).
On the road, we decided to stop at the historical site of
Zone. An old greek village, with only some foundations left. No herps here, but
we satisfied our cultural curiosity.
The hinterlands of Xanthi and Stavroupoli are truly
beautiful and are completely different from the well-known greek islands. It
was a big pleasure being around here.
The biggest waterfall in Greece was close to our hostel
and that would be our destination for today.
After a few stops along the way, with spur-thighed
tortoise, hermann’s tortoise, green lizard, glass lizard, common wall lizard and
a Montpellier snake and a Caspian whip snake sharing a single hideout, we arrived at the waterfall. It was a
steep descent and ascent to get there, but we were rewarded with an impressive
waterfall and equally impressive adult fire salamanders.
On our way back we almost drove over a Slow worm (Anguis fragilis). Good boy scouts as we
are, we helped it cross the road.
May 12 Nestos delta
We started the day with a feast. The owner of Archontiko, the hostel we stayed at, has a friend that can cook. She prepares breakfast specially for every guest. It was a delicious selection of breakfast spreads and sweet bread with some local soup to start. This breakfast provided enough energy to run around for the day. Our first run was at the Nestos delta, a little river
delta with one of the last remaining pieces of primeval riparian forest in the
Balkans, to look for the nose-horned viper once again. No luck for us
unfortunately, but lucky for the local mosquitoes; they got a good meal from us.
We made our way all along the river to the beach. Our list here includes both
tortoises, grass snake, large whip snake, glass lizard and new for our list: Agile frog (Rana dalmatina) We also found a little pond terrapin in a dried up pond,
far away from any water. We named him Sven and released him in the nearest body
of water. We hope Sven is still happily swimming around out there.
In the afternoon we visited the Nestos gorge, an
excellent site for otters and the Rock creeper. The nestos river winds freely through
the gorge, along steep exposed rock, a beautiful natural sight. You can enjoy
this gorge by train which runs from Xanthi to Stavroupoli and vice versa.
Unfortunately we did not find any otters or rock creepers. We did find more
tortoises, glass lizards and wall lizards. Through a little detour we ended up
on top of a train tunnel where a Four-lined snake (Elaphe quatorlineata) was waiting in the sun. We also found
Kotschy’s gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi)
on the wall alongside the train tracks there.
We managed to startle a glass lizard so much that it
dropped itself into the river from 10 meters high and we saw it swim to safety,
something we didn’t know it could do.
May 13 Pomak villages and the trip to Bulgaria
For our last day we went deep into the Rhodope mountains
to visit the pomak villages on the border. The Pomaks, Bulgarian muslims,
practice extensive farming methods, creating a beautiful patchy open landscape,
good for all kinds of flora and fauna. We drove up to the Bulgarian border as
close as we could. The rest we decided to do on foot. We thought the path was
quite ok. Our thoughts were wrong.
We concentrated on the strenuous hike and climbing and
did not herp much. We found some Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis), Balkan stream frog (Rana graeca), mating yellow bellied toads and a close look at the
variation within the grass snake species. We made it to the Bulgarian border,
but were stopped by a fence and some nice Bulgarian policemen. We did get to
put a green lizard on our Bulgaria list in preparation for our 2015 trip.
After our hike back, we deserved another good meal and a
good rest before saying goodbye to a diverse country and people the next day.
Trip list,
herpetofauna:
1)
Fire
salamander
2)
Greek smooth newt
3) Common toad
4)
Green
toad
5)
Yellow-bellied
toad
6)
Agile
frog
7)
Balkan
stream frog
8)
Marsh
frog
9)
Eastern
Hermann’s tortoise
10)
Spur-
thighed tortoise
11)
European
pond terrapin
12)
Balkan
terrapin
13)
Kotschy’s
gecko
14)
Eastern Balkan
green lizard
15)
Green
lizard
16)
Common
wall lizard
17)
Erhard’s
wall lizard
18) Balkan
wall lizard
19)
Snake
eyed skink
20)
European
glass lizard
21)
Slow
worm
22)
Worm
snake
23)
Eastern
Montpellier snake
24)
Large
whip snake
25)
Aesculapian
snake
26)
Four-lined
snake
27)
Dice
snake
28)
Grass
snake
29)
Ottoman
viper
