Montagnes noires, Ariège, Forêt de Bouconne - May 24-25th 2006

24th May - Montagnes noires (Aude, dept. 11)

Swiss friend Konrad Mebert (Webshot photo gallery) drove down to Spain passing through near where I live so we arranged to go herping in some places with key species being Vipera aspis zinnikeri and other snakes such as Rhinechis scalaris and of course all the other herp species that can be encountered. We left for the Black mountains (Montagnes noires) region north of Aude. The wind was a big factor and it seemed thought to find snakes, there was however 3 Malpolon monspessulanus killed on road on the way north. Climbing up in altitude near the village of Lastous we found Podarcis muralis, Lacerta bilineata and a killed on road Rhinechis scalaris (228 m in altitude). Driving further north until we got to Laprade lake (800 m in altitude), the wind was still strong but we started to be able to photograph more species, first we observed Podarcis muralis, then Lacerta bilineata and Natrix natrix helvetica:

View of the mid altitude forests of the Black mountain, here is a place near Lastours (about 250 m altitude)

This Podarcis muralis was sitting under the stone that the Lacerta bilineata ran onto as I disturbed it, when I was creeping forward the Podarcis didn't realize I was there and he ran up to the Lacerta bilineata and chased him away from what must be his rock!

This Natrix natrix helvetica found at Laprade confirms that the border of ssp. helvetica / astreptophora must be the Aude river as the sub species astreptophora is present in the Corbières

Looking for Vipers was with no luck because of the wind and temperature as well as the night approaching all played against us. We drove all the way down the mountain and down to Pamiers in Ariège (dept. 09) and stayed in a hotel overnight and had a nice rest until the next day.

25th May - Ariège (dept. 09) ; Forêt de Bouconne (Haute-Garonne, dept. 31)

As soon as sunrise we woke up and left the hotel, and headed to the villages of Pailhès and Artigat and we searched the hillsides and hedges mainly looking for Vipera aspis zinnikeri. We saw many Lacerta bilineata without catching them for photos, the hillsides were very nice in the morning light, I saw slither into the wall under the vegetation a Vipera aspis zinnikeri so no photos and then I saw the chance to catch one of two Lacerta bilineata maybe mating:

This is the hillside habitat we looked for Vipera aspis zinnikeri, we found one slithering away into it's den, but other then that there was mainly Hierophis viridiflavus and Lacerta bilineata here.

Here is a Lacerta bilineata I caught, she calmed down after 5 minutes and allowed us to pose her as we wished and the result is some great photos

Then a few hundred meters down the hill overturning some wooden boards and we found a juvenile Hierophis viridiflavus:

This was a juvenile Hierophis viridiflavus found under a wooden board, it was the first time I photographed this species.

Same

Then in the next field down, Konrad caught a Natrix natrix helvetica:

This other Natrix natrix helvetica in Ariège means that the ssp. astreptophora has only a small range in the Pyrénées-Orientales and in Aude, and not as I previously thought and presented on the site before (astreptophora all across the Pyrenees)

Then we carried on looking for snakes finding many Hierophis viridiflavus adults as well as juveniles, but they all were too fast in their habitat of bushes and stinging plants, afterwards late morning the sun was too hot and everything but Podarcis muralis disappeared, I turned over a few stones to find Bufo bufo and a black widow spider.

We then drove to Toulouse and I searched in the Forêt de Bouconne for Zamenis longissimus and I found only 1, but it slithered into the dense vegetation, also I observed many many Podarcis muralis and a few Lacerta bilineata (5).

Observed species: 12

Podarcis muralis
Natrix natrix
Lacerta bilineata
Hierophis viridiflavus
Vipera aspis
Malpolon monspessulanus (DOR)
Rhinechis scalaris (DOR)
Zamenis longissimus
Tarentola mauritanica
Podarcis hispanica
Bufo bufo
Pelophylax ridibundus