Thassos is the northernmost of the Aegean islands, belonging to the Thracian islands group, and it's one of the closest to mainland Greece. For years, it has been a favourite vacation spot for Serbian tourists, due to the proximity to the mainland, relatively low transportation cost, and arid but mild climate coupled with intact nature and diverse beaches scattered all along the coastline. When choosing a place for our next September vacation, after the restrictions on international travel had finally eased, my fiancée Jelena and I decided that we should visit Thassos again. Both of us have already visited the island three times before and became dearly enamoured with the place, so it was not a decision that took too long to make.
We already knew the excitement of the break of dawn above the Egnatia highway, the salty Aegean breeze at the Keramoti harbour, and cries of yellow-legged gulls around the ferry, stooping to catch morsels offered by the tourists. Seeing the slopes of Mt. Ipsarion covered in lush Calabrian pine forest was like greeting an old friend.
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| Southern coast of Thassos, with a view to the Mt. Athos (Agio Oros). |
Of course, the thing that interests us the most, now, is herping. And September in Greece is usually far from the high season – according to herping guru from Corfu, Bo Stille, “September is a little better than December”. The summer heat is still on and a little bit of rainfall is usually not enough to activate some of the reptiles from aestivation. Still, September is a time of intensive bird migration, and islands are used as “stepping stones”, so I hoped to compensate with the occasional birding as well. Also, the water temperature was just right for swimming, the smell of pines and Mediterranean herbs in the air was overwhelming, each evening we could watch the spectacular sunsets above the Mt. Athos on the horizon and local restaurants had delicious stuffed squid and amazing domestic leuko krasi. Life was good on Thassos.
On the first day, we already started our walks through olive groves and rocky phrygana with scattered Kermes oak bushes and Calabrian pine trees. Although reptile activity was pretty low, before long we saw the first herp of the trip, and as I expected it was the Snake-eyed lizard, Ophisops elegans. This small, thermophilous Lacertid is a characteristic species of the arid, open habitats in Western Asia, and reaches its north-western distribution limit in Turkish Thrace, NE Greece, and SE Bulgaria. Open, rocky phrygana on Thassos provides ideal habitat for this small, nimble lizard and it seems to be one of the most frequently seen reptiles.
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| Snake-eyed lizard (Ophisops elegans). |
The next day, in the afternoon, I took a walk to the nearby swampy area near the mouth of a small river. It was a place where a small olive grove gave way to reeds and spiny rush and a river formed a small lagoon behind the beach. After stopping to photograph a red-backed shrike that was in a mood for posing, I was completely caught by surprise by a large Dahl’s whipsnake (Platyceps najadum) that was basking by the path. I managed to make a couple of quick in situ shots before the snake dashed for the cover of the nearby brambles, not to be seen again.
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| Dahl’s whipsnake (Platyceps najadum) |
I have encountered Dahl’s whipsnakes on Thassos previously and I know that they are among the most alert and difficult to observe snakes, so I was very pleased with a chance to photograph one. I continued carefully walking to the small lagoon and managed to see a couple of Balkan terrapins (Mauremys rivulata) basking on tree stumps near the water. Further, in a dry riverbed, there were small ponds in which tadpoles of the Balkan green frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri) were completing their metamorphosis, and another surprise – a juvenile Grass snake (Natrix natrix). Although this is a very common species in my homeland, this was the first time for me to see one in Greece, so it was a lifer of sorts. It was also a beautiful brightly coloured specimen so I carefully photographed it before releasing it back into the pond. This was a very good day, for September at least.
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| Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata) |
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| Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata) |
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| Metamorph of a Balkan green frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri) |
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| Juvenile Grass snake (Natrix natrix) |
Tomorrow, during a walk to a nearby beach, I found remains of a roadkilled Eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus). In the evening, I took my headlamp and went to a small cliff by the seashore. There, in just a couple of minutes, we managed to find both gecko species that inhabit Thassos – Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) and Kotschyi’s gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi). Of the two, the Mediterranean house gecko seems to be the most frequently found on the island, especially in the towns and villages, while Kotschyi’s gecko is more patchy distributed but abundant in places and can also be seen during the day. After continuing the night walk to the swamp, we found a male Green toad (Bufotes viridis) hopping around on the sandy road. The Green toad was an expected but welcome finding. I kept checking the same place for the Balkan spadefoot and reeds for a Common treefrog, but the only amphibians I managed to find were the Balkan green frog and Green toad. Maybe I’ll have more luck if I visit the place in the springtime.
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| Green toad (Bufotes viridis) |
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| Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) |
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| Kotschy’s gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi) |
Since we knew that there was a freshwater lake in the middle of the island, which we haven’t seen previously, we decided to take a taxi ride to the Maries village, and from there we had about an hour of walk through the rough, rocky mountain slopes and pine forests to the lake and the nearby waterfall.
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| Typical inland habitats on Thassos – rocky outcrops, phrygana and Calabrian pine forests. |
Around the lake, we found more Balkan green frogs (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri) and shady growths of Calabrian pines and Oriental planes provided shelter to the numerous Eastern green lizards (Lacerta viridis). In my experience, this species is frequently found on the island but prefers shaded, well-vegetated habitats, often near the freshwater. On the open, rocky habitats there were a few Snake-eyed lizards. There was also one unwelcome guest – in the middle of the lake we saw a large individual of the invasive Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) swimming.
The rest of the vacation days were spent without putting in too much effort in the field. I saw another Dahl’s whipsnake, this time too fast to manage to photograph it, and I took some time to make a portrait of the Snake-eyed lizard, which I successfully did after some crawling and sneaking through the rocky phrygana. One of the species that we hoped to see was the Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca) and we finally got lucky with a large, dark male specimen foraging in the dry riverbed. Jelena liked him so much that she called him Stefanos. Of course, we didn’t bother it too much, and after taking a couple of quick photos, we left it alone in its bushy habitat.
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| Adult Balkan green frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri) |
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| Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis) |
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| Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis) |
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| A portrait of the Snake-eyed lizard (Ophisops elegans), showing its characteristic fused eyelids. |
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| Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca), the one we called Stefanos. |
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| A small lagoon behind the beach, which is one of the richest amphibian, reptile and bird habitats that we visited. |
And so, after ten days we boarded the ferry again, waved goodbye to our favourite island, and already started making plans to visit it again. Thassos is one of those places that just grabs you and keeps calling you back. In the end, we didn’t find some of the species that I have previously seen on the island – there were no Caspian whipsnakes (Dolichophis caspius) that are among the most common snakes on Thassos. However, their activity tends to be quite scarce in late summer and autumn. The same goes for the Glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus) and Nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) that should also be reasonably common there, but by now I have found them only as roadkills.
Species seen:
Balkan frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri)
Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca)
Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata)
Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis)
Snake-eyed lizard (Ophisops elegans)
Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)
Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi)
Dahl's whipsnake (Platyceps najadum)
Grass snake (Natrix natrix)
Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) (DOR)
