Consolations: Early Spring Attica Herping Chronicles
By Plato Stefanopoulos
Introduction
After months and months of continuing medical nightmares and persisting pain in the winter, I finally got some imaging tests done on my legs in mid-February that confirmed the absence of any immediately detrimental medical issues, and that was enough to get me to start preparing for the blossoming herping season. It wasn't easy (like anything ever is...), but I had to do this. I had to at least try and see if I would be able to live life as I would with the new legs. February can be a somewhat productive month when it comes to looking for snakes, as we have seen on some of our previous trip reports, and with the mild and warm winter of 2022, we suspected a very early start to spring 2023.
Chapter 1: A Weak Start
My first attempt at looking for snakes was on February 21 . While the weather was warm, there was an unprecedented drought. Once I got to my first stop, I could not believe my eyes when I saw that the grass was yellow and the ground dry and not saturated. Despite going at it for hours in tried-and-true spots, I did not see a single reptile aside an inactive juniper skink under cover. Another attempt at finding snakes was with Charis in the cape region of Attica 4 days later. The drought was also extremely apparent there, no turtles or frogs were seen in the stream habitats, no ocellated skinks under cover, and generally not much of anything apart from a couple marginated tortoises (absurdly low number considering that we were hypothetically near the reproductive peak), a single juvenile trilineata , and a significant DOR. Nevertheless, that was not nearly enough to make me stop trying, so a couple days later, I met up for the first time with my friend Kseniia, who was about to leave Greece for an Arab peninsula trip, and we herped around the airport. While the ground was dry, the air was noticeably more humid, and at long last, we started seeing herps more in line with what I'd expect for the time of year – Balkan green lizards, plenty of snake-eyed and ocellated skinks, frogs and two juvenile Eastern Montpellier snakes (one dead and one missed). After seeing the first couple of snakes of the year, my hopes rose.
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| Lacerta trilineata. Both Kseniia and myself were very pleased to see this man basking. |
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| Chalcides ocellatus |
Chapter 2: Expect the Unexpected
After
a much-needed light rain, the conditions remained warm, humid and overcast, and
more rain was brewing as we transitioned into March. I was absolutely
itching to get back out again, desperate to get my hands on a snake. Conveniently,
it was apparently a German national holiday on March 1, so Charis was out
of school. I went and picked him up in the morning and we made our way
north to a suburban dump with a surprisingly high herpetofauna diversity,
honestly not expecting much of anything despite the favorable conditions, as this time of year is often very hit or miss. The first few refuges hiked and flipped were full of Lacerta , and even though Charis remained pessimistic, I had a good feeling from seeing all that activity. The conditions were perfect for animals to be out to soak up heat, with cloudy skies and a cool air temperature, while the ground was warm and the air extremely humid. We dug through copious amounts of garbage with almost nothing to show for it apart from some small lizards. We were both exhausted and almost defeated, and Charis had pretty much given up, until I found The Pile. As soon as I saw this glorious and angled stack of debris, I urged Charis to join me. Before peeling the onion, I exclaimed with absolute certainty: "there's gonna be a snake under this". And sure enough, a large adult female leopard snake was found resting comfortably between the layers. I swiftly caught the snake, and celebrated this victory with Charis.
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| in situ Testudo marginata |
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| glamor shot, Zamenis situla |
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| field-guide-style photo |
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| not a bad first snake of the year! |
We let the snake go after some photos, and proceeded inland in search of breeding common toads at a site Charis knows well. To our dismay, reproduction had been largely completed, and the only adult we saw was a dead female floating in a pond. This was not the end of things, however, as I found a stunning juvenile glass lizard under a piece of plastic. After photographing it, we visited a site we know for grass snakes, and found nothing, although we were more than happy with what we had already found that day.
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| Himantoglossum robertianum, an early spring classic |
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| juvenile glass lizards (Pseudopus apodus) were not something I had seen a lot of up until that point, so an exciting find |
The next day there was a major rain event, and I went frogging as soon as night fell. It was very productive, with dozens of tree frogs seen, along with common toads and a lone marsh frog at my usual sites. After deciding to take some familiar backroads, I found a crucial DOR toad, which I was not expecting whatsoever, and which flipped everything upside down for me.
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| Lone Kurt (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri) |
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| Big mama Bufo bufo |
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| Some of the tree frogs (Hyla arborea) seen that night, from least to most vibrant |
Chapter 3: The Familiar and the Unknown
Things were looking excellent after the rain, although I unfortunately hit a major creative block at the time. Living in Attica is terrible herpingwise. With its comparatively low reptile diversity and density compared to the rest of mainland Greece and the need to spend a lot of money on gas, with the probability of finding nothing still on the table, it is very easy for me to become unmotivated and dejected during periods of snake activity outside the peak of spring. Nevertheless, after a few days of being in this state, I finally found the courage to just go and try out a completely new spot I had found on the maps. After all, herping is supposed to be my favorite thing to do. The weather was sunny at first, and rainy later. Not a single reptile was found active but I got into loads of good cover and I started going at it hard. I found baby glass lizards and other reptiles and amphibians under some of the most disgusting pieces of cover I'd ever seen. No snakes though, which was somewhat discouraging, but I still had a lot of fun finding what little I could, left with some pictures I liked, and I was glad I had gotten out.
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| Big male ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) in habitat |
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| Hemidactylus turcicus |
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| incredible horns on this domestic sheep skull |
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| one of two Pseudopus apodus juveniles. It seems like very early spring is the time of year to be targeting these. I see significantly fewer then than later in the year. |
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| Pseudopus apodus in habitat |
Two days later, I went herping again, however with lower hopes as I visited a potential hiking spot I had been eyeballing for a minute. Again, with it being so early in the season, I simply didn't know what I was in for, and on top of that, I was anxious that with the new legs and all, there was the possibility that that I'd see something cool and miss it when I otherwise wouldn't. Regardless, the session started off strong with lots of reptile activity. Juvenile tortoises, green lizards, juniper sninks and an adult female Eastern Montpellier snake that was basking deep within the brush. I also found some nice rocks which, to my surprise, only produced a couple of juvenile toads. After I found and missed an additional Montpellier snake, I was almost certain that something good was cooking. I spent several more minutes hiking an impeccable bramble edge when I saw a large grass snake basking. I immediately dove for it and managed to get my hands on the giant reptile before it could even react. Now, I knew this was a large snake, but nothing could prepare me for when I witnessed its true dimensions. I pulled the snake out of the thicket in which it was tangled in, got thorns in my hands, sprayed with a metric ton of musk, and was left absolutely flummoxed upon realizing just how colossal that natricine was - pushing 145 centimeters. A grass snake the size of a big adult 4-lined snake had always been a dream find for me, and I was extremely grateful to have caught the biggest grass snake I'd ever seen, with the new legs no less! After calling my friends and family and photographing the snake, I released it and went back to my car to take a short break, charge my phone and listen to some music. I was very happy. Having said that, the outing was far from over. I kept hiking adjacent areas and found an adult male Montpellier snake (which I sadly missed due to it being really deep in the vegetation) and an adult male glass lizard, which I spotted basking on a stone heap and swiftly dove for and grabbed with ease. I tried to check another site and failed, had dinner and went home in a fantastic mood. What a day!
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| Bicolor toad (Bufo bufo) |
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| Bicolor toad 2 (Bufo bufo) |
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| Testudo marginata juvenile in situ foraging. |
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Disabled reptiles kept seemingly "following" me during my first trips of the year. This juniper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) was missing about half of its left forelimb, but was doing amazing regardless.
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| Unfathomably massive female grass snake (Natrix natrix) |
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| Another in hand photo for reference. Truly a massive serpent. Also, notice the thin lower third of the body - no visible or palpable ova were present, most likely due to it being so early in the season. |
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| Early spring! Natrix natrix with Anemone pavonina |
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| glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus) |
Ironically, I thought I had experienced true level after catching that grass snake and once again lost motivation to get out. I was lucky, however. Not even a week had passed since my last herping session, and my dad asked me to take him to the airport on a warm, sunny morning as he had a plane to catch to go on an alpine skiing holiday. After I dropped him off, I saw this as an excuse to herp, as I was only around 10 minutes from my usual Athens city limits herping spots. I checked numerous flip spots and hiked a lot of habitat, and turned up several Malpolon and Platyceps , among other non-snake herps. This day in the field was very important for me, as it reignited my love for Messogeia herping.
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| Chalcides ocellatus missing nearly its entire right forelimb. It didn't seem to matter |
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| Juvenile Malpolon insignitus, first year. |
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| beautiful pattern |
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| Bufotes viridis |
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| Platyceps najadum giant |
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| Platyceps najadum. Perhaps this angle gives a better idea of the size |
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| View of the whole animal |
Chapter 4: The Real Herping..?
Any and all drive to herp was nowhere to be found for a full week after the Messogeia outing. Which, looking back on it, was quite paradoxical. Nevertheless, I had an idea for what could motivate me to hit the field again – socializing. I called up Charis (probably for the 5th time that week) and once again urged him to join me in the search for some high-profile endemic flowers in a park in urban Athens close to our houses. He agreed and we met at around noon. We found plenty of ocellated skinks and a couple green lizards (one of which narrowly evaded capture), as well as the fritillary that Charis wanted to see. We contacted a friend of Charis, Antia (with whom he was supposed to meet up soon) and scheduled an outing for the very next day once we started losing light.
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| Chalcides ocellatus with several missing appendages. It was also in excellent condition. |
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| a very urban Chalcides ocellatus |
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| Fritillaria obliqua. A very goth flower. Also a rare, endangered stenotopic endemic species. |
I picked the guys up at a train station the following morning and we made our way north to some coastal sites. Things were looking quite bleak, with some juniper skinks and frogs being the only fruits of our labor. However, Antia heard a rustling sound in a patch of tall grass, called me over, and I managed to extract a nice young adult glass lizard, which certainly boosted our morale. We kept pushing for the entire day, found many more herps, including several more glass lizards, by hiking habitat, flipping and… road cruising? The sole snake of the day was a grass snake that was seen basking on a paved road from our car and which I sadly missed. Anyways, the truly important event of that day was the ripping of Charis' pants. It was quite comical and helped ease the atmosphere. Also, Antia primarily photographs butterflies, so we took some time with a swallowtail and a tiger moth. In any case, even though we didn't find much of anything, hanging out with people and taking it easy for a couple of days was a nice and necessary break from my unspeakable obsession with making finds that feed my ego and flood my dopamine receptors.
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| Pseudopus apodus portrait (C) Antia |
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| view of the entire animal |
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| Pseudopus apodus tiny juvenile found beneath layers upon layers of cover. |
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| in habitat |
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| Hemidactylus turcicus (C) Antia |
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| Testudo marginata in the ultimate depiction of Attica |
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| Old world swallowtail (Papilio machaon), a common species but one of my favorites! (C) Antia |
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| Hebe tiger moth (Arctia festiva) |
Chapter 5: Relapse
The very next day after my outing with Charis and Antia, ironically, I started making my way to what I consider to be a "biogeographically ambiguous" submontane area of Attica, going after nothing but the most insane snakes (for Attican standards). It was the warmest day of the year up to that point, with the temps pushing 25 celsius in the low-lying areas. I made my way up the hills and reached almost 600 m. asl, where the temperature hovered at a crisp 19C with consistent sunshine, seemingly perfect for habitat hiking. The habitat looked absolutely insane, with the perfect combination of forest patches, pastures, thicket and wet meadows. I was ready for BIG things. And proceeded to get completely skunked. Actually, I take that back, I found some green lizards and juniper skinks, a single marginated tortoise and a juvenile Montpellier snake which of course managed to elude me. Upon conversing with a very cool local man, he revealed to me that each year he begins seeing snakes basking usually after early to mid-April, and it was March 20th... To add insult to injury, as I was turning my car around on the muddy dirt road so that I could begin the drive home, I made a miscalculation and got stuck in the mud. I tried getting the car out by myself to no avail, so I had to wait for road assistance to pull me out with a wrench for close to 4 hours, as I was quite literally in the middle of the woods, quite far from any settlements or paved roads. Overall a very wacky experience, and definitely one of the forgettable inconveniences of all time.
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| Attica still has some decent habitats left if you know where to look. |
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| Anemone field |
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| stranded |
My solo search for Attica caspius (among others) continued the following day, that time in somewhat lower elevation and easier habitat – disturbed artificial grassland. I had been eyeballing some insane flip sites on Google maps in what I considered to be Attica caspius range, and I was dying to confirm my suspicions of the species' presence in the area. I arrived in the morning and was met by wonderfully overcast and humid conditions. I went at it for hours, physically exerting myself digging through absolutely disgusting garbage without much to show for it apart from the usual non-snake suspects. By some stroke of luck, about a dozen pieces before throwing in the towel, I caught a young Montpellier snake under an empty trash bag, which gave me the motivation I needed to keep going. I got into some of the best tin I'd ever seen, and foolishly missed a young Caspian whip snake, my second ever in Attica. I also found parts of the shed skin of a large adult, which to me meant the following: I was there way too early. But I planned my return. Despite going at it for hours after that, no herps apart from juniper skinks were seen, and I left. It felt good to be back, and with time and resources in my hands, the sky was the limit for 2023's rainy and never-ending spring, and Attica's early spring consolations were just what I needed to get back up on my feet.
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| Hemidactylus turcicus |
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| Malpolon insgnitus |
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| Malpolon insignitus in Attica caspius habitat |
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| Like father like son. Chalcides ocellatus |
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| fragment of the shed skin of an adult Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) under some of the most insane tin I've ever seen |
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| my all-time favorite toad (Bufo bufo) |
Species seen
1. Juniper skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii)
2. Ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus)
3. Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata)
4. Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)
5. European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus)
6. Leopard snake (Zamenis situla)
7. Eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus)
8. Dahl's whipsnake (Platyceps najadum)
9. Grass snake (Natrix natrix)
10. Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) (escaped)
11. Margined tortoise (Testudo marginata)
12. Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata) (remains)
13. Toad (Bufo bufo)
14. Green toad (Bufotes viridis)
15. Greek marsh frog (Pelophylax kurtmuelleri)
16. European tree frog (Hyla arborea)
1.
