By Charis Kouelis
2021 was undoubtedly the most productive year I ever had. From January to mid October I managed to visit several places in the urban and suburban regions of Attica, but also Magnesia and Pieria prefecture, the eastern Peloponnese, Western Greece and Santorini Island. Many species were observed and photographed there, 3 out of which were lifers (Hierophis gemonenis, Hellenolacerta graeca, Tarentola mauritanica). However, the fact that I didn’t see my lifer Dahl's whip snake, Agile frog or Nose-horned viper had left me largely unsatisfied, so I organized a small trip to Pieria prefecture again, hoping I would find some of these species, before the season ended.
In Attica, just a few days before I went with my family to Pieria, Plato and I decided to go for a quick search at his neighborhood. There we only saw some newly metamorphosed Balkan marsh frogs and an adult male green toad, as well as a pair of Marginated tortoises.
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| Green toad (Bufotes viridis) (Picture by Plato Stefanopoulos) |
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| Marginated tortoises (Testudo marginata) (Picture by Plato Stefanopoulos) |
The next day, I figured Ι should visit a grove in urban Athens. After hiking for about 20 minutes without seeing any reptiles, I came upon some cover which looked like it could harbor some reptiles, and started searching, hoping to find my first Dahl’s whip snake. Miraculously, my lifer Dahl’s whip snake was somehow under the first rock I flipped! I snapped a few quick photos with my phone, let the snake go and left because of the rain that was coming. An Ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) was also found under a rock.
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| In-habitat photo of the Dahl's whip snake |
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| Dahl's whip snake (Platyceps najadum) |
The trip to Pieria was long and tedious, we started around 9 am and arrived at about 1p.m. The region around our vacation house, which we visit multiple times throughout the year is characterised by shrubland, abandoned olive groves and fields and is inhabited by many reptile and amphibian species, such as the Green toad, the Hermann's tortoise and the Balkan green lizard to name a few. The weather was thankfully sunny and the conditions suitable, so we immediately started searching around. The first reptiles we observed were numerous Ablepharus and, as expected, one juvenile Balkan green lizard. Upon finding these lizards, we noticed a large well lid. I lifted the lid and spotted a young Caspian whipsnake resting near the top then disappearing. I closed the lid, gave it a few minutes and opened it again. After considerable effort and ultimately getting inside the well, I finally managed to get my hands on the snake. Being happy but also surprised at the same time, I gave my best to get some good pictures from the snake.
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| European copper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) |
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| Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) juvenile |
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Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) juvenile
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| Habitat |
In less than 20 minutes, we managed to find 3 herpetofauna species, one of which was a lifer, without even herping that hard! The first day was definitely an absolute success.
The next morning we decided to visit the Dion archeological park and the Orlias stream. Dion is a lowland wetland located in the northeastern part of mount Olympus. It hosts a rather high number of species, including many amphibians such as the European tree frog and the Balkan marsh frog, and reptiles such as the Eastern green lizard and the Erhard's wall lizard. Eastern green lizards, probably coexisting with Balkan green lizards, were everywhere to be found. As usual, they were hard to photograph, but finally I got some good pictures. Hyla arborea were heard calling from the bushes but not observed. After walking around for about 1 hour, I suddenly saw something jumping from the tall grass into the bushes. My expectations of finding my first Agile frog increased as the habitat was ideal for the species. And I was right, a few minutes later I spotted 2 agile frogs!
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| Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis) juvenile |
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| Agile frog (Rana dalmatina) |
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| Agile frog (Rana dalmatina) |
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| Habitat |
In Dion as well as in Orlias and nearby locations, Podarcis erhardii seems to be a very common species and reaches high population densities. Many individuals were observed there, mainly sunbathing on the rocks.
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| Female Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii riveti) |
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| Female Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii riveti) |
Sadly the sun had nearly set, so we only stayed in Orlias for about 30 minutes. Nevertheless, we saw some Greek marsh frogs as well as some Greek stream frogs there.
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| Pasture with Mt Olympus in the background |
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| Juvenile Pelophylax kurtmuelleri |
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| Greek stream frog (Rana graeca) |
After returning to our vacation house, my friend and I took a short walk around the house, hoping to find some green toads or other amphibian species. And, to my surprise, despite the low temperatures, we observed numerous Kotschy's geckos (Mediodactylus kotschyi), a rather common species in the area.
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| Kotschy's gecko (Mediodacylus kotschyi) |
Our last destination was the well known Prionia, which sit at an attitude of 1100 m asl. The Prionia are surrounded by black pine (Pinus nigra) and Fagus sylvaticus forests. A small river called "Εnipeas" (Ενιπέας) crosses the area. Every year, Rana graeca, Salamandra larvae and hundreds of Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) are observed in the stream as well as Natrix natrix and Bombina variegata. On the way to Prionia, we saw a large animal running from the road into the bushes nearby. We finally found out that it was beautiful red fox and I was really happy for my encounter. The fact that I couldn’t take any photos of the animal however, had left me a bit disappointed. Only a few minutes later another fox crossed the road, but as I tried to turn on the camera, the fox had already left. Then we made a short stop in the location where one of the foxes was found and we started searching around, hoping to flip some greek slow worms, which are supposedly quite common in the area. Due the low temperatures, we sadly didn’t see any reptile species there, so I took some pictures of the amazing scenery and we tried our luck in another location near Prionia. The sun was shining for a while and we luckily spotted a few Common wall lizards. At a sunny spot, my eye cought an adult wall lizard and I tried to get a quick photo just for the record. When we arrived at Prionia we realized that the weather was way too cloudy and cold for any reptile species. Nevertheless, the landscape was amazing and we enjoyed hiking near the river.
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| Fagus forest with autumn colors |
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| Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) |
On the way back, we were lucky enough to spot another fox, which unlike the others didn’t immediately disappear, something that allowed for some great photos.
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| Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) |
Since it was the last day of the trip, we had to pack our things and we were going to leave at 1:00 pm. Therefore, we tried in these few minutes that remained to us, to find and photograph a Balkan green lizard. After a few minutes of flipping stones we finally caught a juvenile Balkan green lizard, and a few Ablepharus following.
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata juvenile) |
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| European copper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) |
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| European copper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) |
In my opinion it was a great and partially successful short trip and I can’t wait to visit Pieria again!
Species seen:
Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
Dahl's whip snake (Platyceps najadum)
Ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus)
European copper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii)
Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius)
Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata)
Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis)
Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii)
Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis)
Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi)
Agile frog (Rana dalmatina)
Greek stream frog (Rana graeca)
Balkan frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri)
Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata)
