By Stamatis KalogiannisSpring herping in the Sporades: The hunt for Sporadic snakes was arguably my best trip report so far, describing an amazing month of herping. I mean, I still occasionally sit back and enjoy it instead of thinking of it as awkward or poor. Not only does it showcase the peak of my homeland's beauty, but I can also say it was fairly productive and nicely documented. Furthermore, I may have a severe case of nesiophilia (the fondness of islands, not necrophilia), so naturally I tend to write island trip reports with quite some enthusiasm. After last year's success, I still needed to finish my research regarding the herpetofauna of the Northern Sporades and had lots of data to collect, so that only meant one thing - Spring 2023 was also going to be full of herp endeavors across the archipelago! This year, however, I decided to mainly focus on collecting records rather than trying to find quality animals.
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| Map of visited islands |
Chapter 1: 21 February - 26 March
The winter was mid to bad. Not enough precipitation, lots of drought, lots of wind. We got some decent rain in late January and then a few days of snowfall in early February. That was about all for the winter. Temps started rising after the second half of February, and soon enough, early spring was already here. The ground was dry and the vegetation was poor until we finally got good rainfall in the first days of March. Nevertheless, the Sporades herping started with a few mainly afternoon outings on Alonissos, which produced Snake-eyed skinks (Ablepharus kitaibelii), Erhard's wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), a single Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata), Mediterranean house geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus), Kotschy's geckos (Mediodactylus kotschyi) and two Caspian whip snakes (Dolichophis caspius). A total of 6 species was enough to make it official; reptiles were out for good!
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) juvenile |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) juvenile |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) female |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) male |
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| View towards the south part of Peristera, Skantzoura and Dio Adelfia (from left to right) |
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| Typical habitat at the central part of Alonissos |
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| Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi) |
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| Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi) |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) pair |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) pair |
On 10th March, I headed over to Skiathos island for a short, 2-night opportunistic stay. The weather was looking okay during Friday and Saturday, but was expected to drastically decline on Sunday, with temps below 13C and 5-6bf of wind. Nevertheless, my main goal for this little trip was finding breeding amphibians around the airport area. I also had a full day of daylight during which I was going to try and find snakes. On the first evening I managed to find Snake-eyed skinks (Ablepharus kitaibelii) and Balkan green lizards (Lacerta trilineata) in some olive groves. On the same night, I saw but mainly heard several European tree-frogs (Hyla arborea) calling from swimming pools and canals around the airport, which was a great find considering the fact that there was previously only one record of a single roadkilled individual from the island! The next day was spent hiking some hills north of the town, where I found and photographed several Balkan green lizards. Snakes were nowhere to be seen, perhaps due to the very early season. On the second night, the heavy rainfall produced a great opportunity to photograph more European tree-frogs in some flooded fields near my room in Xanemos.
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| On the way to Skiathos |
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| Open meadow habitat bordering agricultural land and shrublands, habitat of Ablepharus and Lacerta |
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| View from the coast near Xanemos towards the western part of Skopelos |
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| A very loud male tree-frog in an abandoned fountain |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) striped hatchling |
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| Hiking trail dominated by Euphorbia characias |
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| Portrait of a young adult female Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) |
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| Anthemis are some of the most iconic early spring flowers |
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| Habitat of Lacerta trilineata and Platyceps najadum |
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| Adult Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) in situ |
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Male European tree-frog (Hyla arborea)
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Male European tree-frog (Hyla arborea)
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Male European tree-frog (Hyla arborea)
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The weather was ridiculous on day 3, so I woke up late and managed to catch the ferry back home, which was a miracle considering the extreme wind.
A couple of weeks later, on 24th March, I returned to Skiathos for some supplementary records, mainly focused on amphibians. Of course, some efforts would again go into finding snakes and lizards, although again the time was limited. Just like last time I had planned to stay from Friday afternoon until the morning of Sunday. This time though, I decided to take the local bus at 16:00 to the western part of the island to look for more localities of amphibians. I did manage to see Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) in Troulos and Megalos Aselinos, where I also heard tons of European tree-frogs (Hyla arborea) calling late in the evening. A few Balkan green lizards (Lacerta trilineata) where also seen during the couple of hours of daytime I had.
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| The stream at Troulos, habitat of Mauremys and Pelophylax |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) among the reeds |
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| One of many Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) seen at that locality |
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The road to Megalos Aselinos follows a seasonal stream and passes through wonderful open meadows
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| Roadside habitat of Hyla and Pelophylax in Aselinos |
Saturday was going to be a hiking day. I woke up at about 7:30 and the weather was excellent, so an hour later, I decided to head over to a nearby hill in Xanemos to have a quick look for basking reptiles before breakfast. Sure enough, I missed an adult Glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus) that was basking next to a large mastic bush. This was my first time seeing this species on Skiathos and although I was pretty excited for the find, it was a shame that I didn't get my hands on it. Anyways, I returned to my room and we went to the town to grab a quick bite to eat and then on a quick visit to the Monastery of Evangelistria. I was later dropped off in a dirt road leading to the NE coast of the island, where I was going to visit Lechouni beach and hike some of the surrounding habitat. The walk there was unproductive, besides the ever-present green lizards. Reaching Lechouni I was greeted by the calls of a Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) coming from a stream and expected to only see a couple of individuals, but I ended up finding a very healthy population that inhabited the whole length of the stream, from the riparian forest to the estuary. This was by far the most healthy and viable population I found on Skiathos. I spent the rest of the day hiking habitat from Lechouni, to Kalivia and Xanemos, finding a single Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii), several Balkan green lizards and the only snake of the day - a lightning-fast adult male Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) that was impossible to catch. The glass lizard was also back at its spot in the afternoon, but was basking deep inside the bush due to some sheep grazing next to it.
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| Habitat of Pseudopus in Xanemos |
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| View from the Monastery |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) juvenile basking on a tree |
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| Goats on the descend to Lechouni |
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| A part of the stream home to hundreds of marsh frogs |
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| Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) |
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| Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) in their habitat. Surprisingly, that piece of styrofoam was the only trash in the stream. |
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| Part of the stream near the coast |
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| Olive grove - or should I say asphodel grove? |
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| Typical scenery in that part of Skiathos |
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| View towards Skopelos |
I once again boarded the ferry home on Sunday morning. This was probably going to be my last Skiathos visit for the next several months, and although not many reptiles were seen on both visits, I collected lots of important amphibian records and kinda refreshed my knowledge about the island's herpetofauna.
Chapter 2: 31 March - 21 April
After returning to Alonissos, I did not have any trips planned for the next weeks, so herping was going to be somewhat slow. Now, Alonissos is not the most exciting island out of the Sporades trio - from a herpetological aspect, of course. Not too many species and generally poor population densities. Just like last year though, I did a few evening walks in some areas throughout the island for a couple of weeks and managed to find most of the island's common species. I didn't really try to get decent photographs of most of the reptiles I found, but I saw all 5 lizard species of the island and 4 or 5 Caspian whip snakes (Dolichophis caspius), including a DOR.
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| Female Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) |
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| Following a dirt road through agricultural land |
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| View from the top of the old village (Chora), which used to be the island's capital before an earthquake in 1965 |
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| The old mule track to Mikros Mourtias |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) |
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| Farmland at the northeast part of the island |
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| One of several abandoned traditional farmhouses |
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Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius), aberrant dark individual
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| Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) |
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| Orchid number 1: Ophrys mammosa |
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| Orchid number 2: Ophrys sicula |
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| Agricultural habitat at the SW part of Alonissos |
Since last year's spring visit to Skopelos was really good (despite the early season), I wanted to visit the island again - this time, in the best possible time period. Skopelos is a beautiful island and has a nice variety of species and habitats. I also really needed to collect more records of reptiles and amphibians from this island and check the breeding Bufotes viridis I had discovered the year before. When it comes to reptiles, catching a few montpellier snakes seemed like a great idea. My main snake-goal however, was a species I have not found on Skopelos yet - the four-lined snake. Adult four-lined snakes have managed to elude me in several occasions and I have long dreamed about finding a large individual on one of the Northern Sporades. They are supposed to be somewhat common on Skopelos and the weather was looking good, so without any hesitation, I booked a room for 3 days of herping around the main town.
Upon reaching the island via the flying dolphin from Alonissos at about 09:30 in the morning, I immediately checked in and left my stuff at the room. The weather was cloudy and rather cold so I headed to a potential flipsite I had previously located on google earth. Unfortunately it turned out to be completely inaccesible, so my only option now was to head into some habitat at the nearby hills. An adult Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) basking next to her refugium was the first herp of the trip and my first individual of the species ever on this island. For the next 2 hours, the weather was still very uncooperative, so no snakes were seen, but I managed to find another 3 species of lizards; a few Erhard's wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), Snake-eyed skinks (Ablepharus kitaibelii) and many House geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) under rocks.
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| Tongued orchids (Serapias bergonii) with Skopelos harbor in the background |
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| View towards Glyfoneri beach |
I then went back to my room to get some water, from where I left to hike a different spot. It took an hour or so until the clouds retreated, and finally snakes emerged. I lost a couple of them in some really thick vegetation and unfortunately could not ID them. As the vegetation there was incredibly tall and dense, I left and headed towards the agricultural plain located north of the town. While I was passing through a suburban area with grasses and olive groves, I flipped some large pieces of rubble and caught a juvenile Malpolon insignitus that was in its shedding cycle. A house gecko was also found. After a short photographic session with the snake, I followed a path that was passing through olive groves, where I spotted a large montpellier snake basking curled up out in the open. I instantly dived to grab it and had it in my hands before it even had a chance to flee. It was a very cool adult male of about 130cm TL that was very cooperative.
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| Female, likely gravid Podarcis erhardii basking high up on a tree |
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| View from the hills, clouds finally breaking off |
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| Dorsal shot of juvenile Malpolon insignitus |
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| Juvenile Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) |
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| Habitat of Malpolon in a suburban area |
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| Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) |
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| Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) |
As it was getting late, I got some supplies from the nearby supermarket and walked the plain between Skopelos and Staphylos towards the area where green toads were breeding the previous year. Unfortunately, the exact spot was completely dry, but there was water in the surrounding meadows. Before it got dark, I flipped a few rocks and found House geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) and an Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii). I soon heard 2 or 3 green toads calling, though they were inconsistent and I couldn't locate them. I then called it a night and grabbed a bite to eat before going to bed.
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| The meadows near Staphylos just before nightfall |
On the next day, I decided to head towards the agriculltural plain near Staphylos again as the place looked ideal for habitat hiking. Erhard's wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) were numerous on the stonewalls and one Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) was found basking in some tall grass. Soon enough, a juvenile Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) was also seen basking outside some shrubs. Throughout the rest of the morning, I missed another 2 Montpellier snakes, a couple more Balkan green lizards and caught a beautiful Green toad (Bufotes viridis) under some rocks in a grassy meadow. I kept scanning some ruins with brambles around them that looked ideal for four-lined snakes, to no avail. I then took a break at the beach of Staphylos. In the afternoon, I hiked a few more hills near the town, finding more Erhard's wall lizards, Snake-eyed skinks, House geckos and two Montpellier snakes, which I again lost due to the tall vegetation. I was pretty exhausted by this point, so I got some food and returned to the room.
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| Habitat in the same area |
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| Green toad (Bufotes viridis) dorsal view |
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| Green toad (Bufotes viridis) closeup |
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| Goats grazing in the fields |
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| Staphylos beach, very quiet at this time of the year |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) |
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| Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) |
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| House gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) |
On day 3 I was going to leave the island at 16:40. Obviously I also had to pack my bags, check out and buy a ticket, so that only left me with a few hours of herping in the morning. I visited some of the hills I also visited on the first day, as the weather was much better this time (although a bit windy) and the habitat there is excellent, with springs, riparian vegetation, olive groves and some maquis. Reaching the habitat I managed to photograph some basking Erhard's wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), found a single House gecko under a rock and then lost two unidentified snakes in the thicket. Further down the hills I saw a juvenile montpellier vanish into a hole on an olive tree and not much later an adult climbing a steep road cut. I was getting extremely frustrated as I was losing too many snakes and was starting to question my skills when I spotted a tortoise crossing a dirt road. It turned out to be an adult male Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata) of 25cm TL. To my knowledge, this was the first record of a land tortoise on Skopelos! I got some quick photographs and measurements and let it go into some nearby habitat. Shortly before leaving the area to head towards the town I also found a juvenile Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) basking on a stone and at last managed to take an in-situ, since all the aduts I saw were extremely shy.
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) |
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| Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata) |
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| Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata) |
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| Juvenile Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) |
As I was getting exhausted from the non-stop herping throughout the past 2 days, I decided to close this trip 2 hours before boarding the flying dolphin. Although I once failed at finding an adult four-lined, I am still glad to have managed to make several field records on this beautiful island.
Chapter 3: 30 April - 14 May
Entering May, I did some solo outings at some local Alonissos lizard spots and then joined some English friends on some herping and birding outings across the island. We searched for vipers on 3 occasions, but to no avail. We still managed to see a lot of local wildlife though, and also found many other herps with different herping methods. Roadcruising also started being productive, and we found 3 caspian whipsnakes on the road.
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| View from the far NE part of Alonissos towards the northern tip of Peristera and the small Lechousa islet |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) |
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| Spot the lizard! |
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| Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) |
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| Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) |
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| Agricultural habitat at the SW part of Alonissos, excellent habitat for Lacerta trilineata |
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| Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) |
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| A king and his two wives; Erhard's wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni) |
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| Numerous at this time of the year. Bee-eater (Merops apiaster). |
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| Dio Adelfia in the horizon |
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| Bee-orchid (Ophrys apifera) |
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| Female Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) of 110cm |
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| Female Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius), with some goat turds on the top right corner |
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| Male Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) of 132cm |
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| Male Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) |
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| View across the eastern coast of the island towards Kyra Panagia |
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| The dry riverbed of Kastanorema |
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| Lesser gray shrike (Lanius minor) |
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| Dorsal shot of a melanistic juvenile Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) |
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| Closeup of the same snake |
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| One of the farmhouses at the abandoned village of Gerakas. Habitat of... |
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| Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi) |
EpilogueOn 15 May, I left the Sporades on a survey trip to another island group and then did some much-needed herping on the mainland for fun. Upon returning, my herping season closed with a positive covid test and the painful process of having to study for my exams. Nonetheless, this spring yielded yet another interesting season of fieldwork in my homeland. Many cool species were found in new localities and tons of valuable knowledge was gained. I also finally had the chance to enjoy so many amphibians in their vulnerable insular breeding spots, which was an absolute treat! Unfortunately, I was once again unable to visit the smaller islands, but this is now my goal for next spring.
Species seen:
European tree-frog (Hyla arborea)
Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)
Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata)
Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata)
Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii ruthveni)
Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii)
European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus)
Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)
Kotschy's gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi)
Eastern montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus)
Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius)
