LOCAL OBSERVATIONS 2006 - February

Tuesday 28th February 2006

Walking the dog again, I decided to return to the same place and measure the depth of the water in which the tadpoles were in, it was between 5 and 15 cm deep, I overturned some stones at the waters edge because the tadpoles in the first area had developed over the last few days and now have 'gills' meaning, they are urodels, but no, a friendwho is a scpecialist in Amphibians told me that all tadpoles have these gills when they are newly hatched. I had a look for any newts, and I found, under a stone at the rivers edge another Discoglossus pictus adult, not the same as the other specimen, I could be sure of this thanks to the vivid markings on the Discoglossus's back.

Sunday 26th February 2006

After walking the dog on saturday evening, I saw an isolated pond near the river with many Amphibian eggs in, so whilst walking the dog today, I went for a closer inspection. At first I thought that they were Bufo bufo eggs, but then upon closer inspection the eggs were not aligned in a cord form, excluding this species, so then I thought they must be Discoglossus pictus, but then comparing them to an amphibian book, I then put my bet on Pelodytes punctatus for the coloring of the tadpoles. Then after searching at the waters edge, I saw a wonderful Discoglossus pictus adult sitting between some stones, so then it must be sure that the tadpoles were of this species. Then going further down the river, I found another place with tadpoles, but these ones were much bigger and more obviously tadpoles, with the tail to head proportions being nice.

Saturday 25th February 2006

A nice calm sunny day, clear blue sky. I decided to drive our into the valley and look for some herps, I went out to my famous Montpellier snake hot spot where I heard and briefly saw two adult Montpellier snakes one after the other slither swiftly into their burrows under stones and dry dead vegetation. Looking for any signs of other specimens, I saw a Large Psammodromus.

Sunday 12th February 2006

A nice calm sunny day, clear blue sky, 13*C. This made it possible to hope to see some herps, I first went to a pond in the middle of a damp forest, here after the recent floods, there was a lot of rubbish and dead logs, twigs... Amongst all of this was an abandoned 'Le MIKO' freezer (an ice cream maker), I recognized it from a few years ago when whilst overturning it, my friend got bitten by a large rat. I tried my luck overturning this one, and at the first glance I saw a frog, very dark, in my mind I hoped it would have been maybe an Alytes or Pelodytes, but as I focused on it, it was clear that the species was Hyla meridionalis, and not 5 cm away to it's left was a baby Anguis fragilis. I picked them both up and they were very inactive and calm, I could get some alright photos, firstly of the Tree frog, and then concentrating on the Slow worm after 10 minutes, but the time he was waiting he must have heated up a bit because he was too active and moving to get any sharp photos. After a while I put them back on the ground and placed the freezer back where it was.

After this I walked near the pond and saw two water frogs, probably Rana ridibunda jumping into the water and heard another one chirping and calling in the bush. I decided to change location so I went to my Montpellier snake 'hotspot'.

On arrival I slowly made my way up a dry ditch and suddenly heard one large adult slither up the bank to my left, as I rushed over to it, another large adult slithered away down the bank to my right. I then jumped down to the field and looked for the one who went down, looking and seeing a third adult sunbathing in the vegetation, he must have been sleeping because he didn't spot me, I got my camera out, took a photo, then put the camera back into it's bag when he moved his head and obviously saw me with his huge eyes, I lunged forwards to catch him and he slithered further into the vegetation and out of reach. This was the same place I caught the largest Malpolon ever seen by myself (1.9 meters long).

Saturday 11th February 2006

Today was a clear blue sky and sunny with it being quite warm in the direct sun rays. It was 10*C and so I went to a friends house out in the fields, they are away at this time in England. I just got there and I went round the back garden and saw the first of what must have been up to around 20 specimens of Podarcis hispanica. I tried to get the best possible photos:

Then I moved to another part of their large garden and I saw a Tarentola mauritanica running down the wall and disappearing into a hole, I went over and saw it in the hole but I could not get the camera to get a photo of it (lack of light). I turned over some stones and bricks and found a black scorpion, as a demonstration to this species as being harmless, see photos:

Very happy of the sighting of their garden, I left and looked elsewhere, I saw an interesting stone wall in the fields and went over for a look, I then realized that there was water running down at the bottom of the wall, I scanned the wall for lizards and suddenly I noticed a movement in the water, as I looked closer I couldn't see anything, I put my hands into the very cold water and felt around, then I found a Rana perezi (Iberian water frog), he was very dark in color and I took some photos:

Very pleased and getting thirsty, the sun was starting to get covered by light clouds, I went home and had a look at the photos.