After my long awaited herp trip to the island of Corfu was cancelled for absolutely idiotic reasons for the 4th time this year, I was left heartbroken. The fall herping season was in full effect following the rains and the pleasantly warm temperatures, and Attica herping was absolutely on fire, so I had to take a trip. I impulse-booked a hotel room for a 3 day trip to the Peloponnese, however, after some guidance, I came to my senses, cancelled my booking at the last minute and booked somewhere completely different. I hastily gassed up, packed my luggage, went to sleep and I was off the next morning at 6 o’clock to avoid the extreme traffic. With very low hopes overall and a negative mindset, and on top of it all considering the normally painfully slow nature of herping in Greece, I had no idea what to exactly expect and I was completely ready for a brutal trip. Little did I know it would be the exact opposite.
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| Just about to leave… |
DAY 1
It was a long drive, almost double compared to the one I was originally going to undertake, and after several hours of driving and nightmarish roads, I was finally near my destination. I was absolutely blown away by the humidity and richness of the habitat, and considered that road for road cruising. That’s when I made my first stop for the first herp of the trip, a large DOR grass snake. I was on my way to a flip site I had previously marked. As I arrived, I saw that 99% of it was flooded, however I did find my lifer Algyroides moreoticus, that was actually basking on top of a huge piece of AC (which paradoxically did not have anything under it) which I didn’t get any decent photos of as it was impossible to get in hand. I figured I should go forward a bit and I stopped for a DOR dice snake, however, I also noticed 4 other dead snakes in that same stop - including a hatchling 4-lined, my first ever look at the species. As I progressed, I found a dozen dead dice snakes and thought that this was a night cruising road, however, I cruised an AOR hatchling dice snake so I kept going. I did a couple more passes to no avail. I saw another DOR hatchling 4-lined that wasn’t there before and after missing an adult dice snake I just knew I had to keep doing passes, but I gave it a bit of time because I was really that frustrated.
I took a short break from road cruising to flip garbage and hike, which produced A DOR glass lizard and trilineata, upon which I returned to cruising. Several AOR dice snakes later, including some double stops, as I was about to turn around for another pass, I saw a snake that looked like a funny stick stretched out about to start crossing the road. I dashed out of the car and I was greeted by my lifer 4-lined!!! It was one of the nicest hatchlings I’ve ever seen and I was absolutely ecstatic. It had been a long time since I had been this excited for a snake! After all this I just knew that I was probably at one of the best road cruising roads in Greece!
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| Hatchling dice snake, one of many. |
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| My lifer 4-lined snake, Elaphe quatuorlineata, quick photo session after it was escorted well away from the road. |
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| Same Elaphe quatuorlineata hatchling |
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| One of several (living) adult dice snakes that I cruised. |
Since the road kept giving, I kept cruising. I cruised so many dice snakes, mostly juveniles but also adults, that I lost count and stopped taking photos. I also cruised a considerably larger hatchling 4-lined, which unlike the first one would not cooperate for photos so I ended up releasing after very few in hand shots. I figured I should switch gears and head to some potential flip sites I had marked. I ended up on some godforsaken dirt roads in the middle of the woods, and got too close to a corral, and ended up getting chased by guard dogs. I had driven such a long way that I just had to find something. Upon escaping the angry dogs, I flipped a grand total of two pieces of wood, and ended up finding my lifer Ionian wall lizard under the second one, which made the (mis)adventure absolutely worth it.
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| In-hand shot of the second juvenile 4-lined, escorted well off the road. |
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| My lifer Podarcis ionicus |
Night fell fast and I went to a local town and ate the cheapest and worst souvlaki ever, which was the source of much suffering in the form of stomachache. Due to a lack of spots but also fear to go shining by myself as I was in an honestly dangerous area, a painfully long night cruising session ensued, during which I listened to podcasts, bad music, and everything in between. I was mainly going for amphibians as there could be potential lifers crossing the road and the temps and humidity were great. I found several ambiguous marsh frogs but among them there was certainly my lifer Epirus water frog. Snakes were few and far in between and excluding numerous freshly killed dice snakes, I only managed to cruise a spectacular cat snake that had unfortunately just been clipped by a car moments before and was still squirming. I also cruised a decent number of green toads. Completely drained, I went to the hotel room and slept like a brick.
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| My lifer Epirus water frog (allegedly) |
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| A particularly good-looking European green toad |
DAY 2
I woke up early with trash flipping in mind. I was fighting with the elements to reach the flip sites I had marked while jamming to some music. The dirt roads were horrendous, muddy and flooded and I couldn’t get anywhere, and after turning around 3 times, I came across an excellent board at the edge of a wetland. It looked like a Natrix board, but being used to Attica flipping, I was expecting to not find anything, and as a result, I was not at the very least prepared for what was about to ensue. I exited my car, keys still in, door still open, music was still playing and with no snake bag or tub on me. “All the small things” by Blink182 was playing as I flipped the board, and to my astonishment, there was a very nice greenish grass snake under it. I grabbed it but as I was pulling it out of the grass, I also noticed a juvenile 4-lined. I grabbed it too and as I was trying to unwrap it from the grass I also noticed a subadult 4-lined in the grass. “All the small things” was still playing on loop as I was desperately attempting to get all 3 snakes under control. I would pull the smaller 4-lined out, leave it outside the grass, pull the other one out, and until I had done that it would have gone back into the grass. It was extremely frustrating, and the grass snake ended up escaping, but I somehow managed to get both quatuorlineata in a snake bag. I took a short break to catch my breath and I flipped the board again and to my astonishment, the grass snake was miraculously in its original position and I grabbed it again. After I tubbed all 3 snakes, a photo session ensued after which I let them crawl back under their board.
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| Field guide style photo of Elaphe quatuorlineata older juvenile/subadult (3rd year, probably) |
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| Elaphe quatuorlineata, head detail |
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| E. quatuorlineata yearling |
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| E. quatuorlineata yearling |
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| Grass snake (Natrix natrix) |
A failed attempt at road cruising and scouting for new spots followed, after which I just stopped herping for a while, as I was fully satisfied just from my lifer 4-lined the previous day, not considering the other 3. I just laid in bed until night fell and I was out again for my last night cruising session of the trip. I saw some frogs as well as a single live snake, a very nice grass snake, among many DOR dice snakes.
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| In s(h)itu photo of an adult Algyroides moreoticus that I road cruised |
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| Quick photo session of the grass snake before releasing it. |
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| Hyla arborea |
Four lifers and several long-awaited snakes in, I felt like the trip was completely gratuitous overkill, especially considering the fact that I wasn’t even herping that hard. I cruised a couple amphibians on my way to and from the place where I got dinner and went to sleep without high expectations for the next day as cruising had slowed down substantially compared to day 1 and I was going to leave early, but little did I know that the next day had even more in store for me. Read all about day 3 in the next part!
