Suzanne and I arrived on Kefalonia at midday and following a brief look in the airport car park where we observed several Balkan wall lizards Podarcis tauricus we collected our hire car and headed for lunch in the capitol, Argostoli. We walked to the harbor and in amongst the fishing boats we soon spotted our main target for the trip, Loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta. In fact we saw 4 of them swimming around the boats and feeding on fish scraps thrown overboard as the nets were cleaned.
Driving north we soon arrived at our cottage for the week where we quickly found 5 juvenile Moorish geckos Tarentola mauritanica beneath rocks , later in the afternoon a Greek algyroides Algyroides moreoticus was seen basking in the garden.
An evening walk around the village found 2 Snake eyed skinks Ablepharus kitaibelii beneath stones but the camera was back at the house.When we returned we found four Moorish geckos on the exterior wall and a Turkish gecko Hemidactylus turcicus in the house
Sunday 27th October
Another sunny day and we started with a few Greek algyroides in the garden.
Our plan was to visit a fortress on an island at Assos but we missed our turning and so our first stop was in a layby where I spotted a Dalmation algyroides Algyroides nigropuncatus sunning itself on a shrub
We walked up the path to the fortress seeing many Greek algyroides on the way but the walk among the ruined building was fruitless, we stopped to talk to some tourists who claimed to have just seen a snake, no sign of it now though!
A quick look a new building on the site gave us Moorish and Turkish geckos in a well and a Snake eyed skink beneath a plastic sheet.
We left here and drove to the nearby beach at Myrtos where we had a swim and I managed to take a rather hurried shot of a Balkan green lizard Lacerta trilineata
After lunch we drove west to some wetlands where I found 2 Green toads Bufo viridis beneath a stone and a few Greek algyroides in a nearby ruin
Monday 28th October
An early start today and a drive to Mount Ainos in search of the Nose horned viper Vipera ammodytes . We stopped on the lower slopes and walked through an old olive grove finding only Balkan wall lizards and a juvenile Balkan green lizard.
Moving up we stopped at a rock strewn hillside with plenty of scrub and broken walls perfect snake habitat, no luck here despite walking around for an hour finding only wall lizards. Our next stop was an old abandoned guard house where we found a bat roosting in one of the rooms. Outside in the sunshine were lots of rocky , sunny glades among the trees where once again we found hundreds of wall lizards but no sign of a snake. We stopped near the top at a height of 1540 metres to admire the view but found no reptiles until we stopped at a recreation area where we found a drift fence set up with collection pots (empty), plenty of wall lizards in the undergrowth.
In the afternoon we drove to Antisamos for a great snorkeling session in crystal clear water, as usual there were Balkan wall lizards around the beach including this one which seems to be eating a swollen tick
At the end of the day we went to buy some food and check some concrete water channels we had seen earlier, I looked in a square concrete tank full of water and rubbish but could see nothing, upon removing a plastic bag and crate I wondered what the yellow dots were that I could see, I soon realised that I was looking at the neck of a European pond terrapin Emys obicularis
, an uncommon find for Kefalonia. It had obviously fallen in and could not escape. There seemed to be very little in here for it to eat so I removed it and put it in a nearby channel with plants etc.
Tuesday 29th October 29th
A rather disappointing day herp wise, we sarted by driving to the underground lake at Melissani which was closed, onto a nearby lake and then back to Melissani which was still closed. We drove back to the terrapin location but could not see it there and then onto a nearby park. This looked an ideal place for a Grass snake Natrix natrix but all we could find were more Balkan wall lizards, Greek algyroides, Painted lady butterflys and lots of Moorish and Turkish Geckos in the inspection chambers for path side lights .As we walked past a water channel we disturbed a large terrapin which slid into the water before we could identify it. A walk along the wooded path near the Italian war memorial gave only more wall lizards.
Wednesday 30th October
Fiskardo at the north of the island was our destination for today and our first stop once again was the layby opposite Assos, all we found here were a few Dalmation algyroides. We visited the Venetian lighthouse at Fiskardo and spent 2 hours walking through a mixture of rocky grass land and scrub looking for snakes with no success, finding only Balkan wall lizards and 1 Balkan green lizard which quickly disappeared into a wall. I also managed to find a plastic dinosaur, this is the second time that I have found one and I am wondering if some travelling herper places them around the world as a joke.A few hours were then spent snorkeling and I managed to catch an Octopus with my hands.
We then returned to the wetlands where quickly found Moorish and Turkish geckos and some very hungry mosquitos. A search of the slopes above gave us 4 Hermann's tortoises Testudo hermanni
Thursday 31st October
Another visit to Mount Ainos to look for snakes but with no luck, a sunny day with plenty of cover and lizards everywhere but no snakes, the closest we got was finding the sloughed skin of what I think is a Montpellier snaker, a scale count of 17 at midbody.
We drove back to Argostoli for a beer and to watch the turtles It was clear that many of the turtles had been struck by boats and some had propeller damage to their bodies or paint marks from collisions.
Friday 1st November
Today I decided that I had had enough of walking around wasting time looking for herps and so was just going to do normal holiday stuff (whatever that is). We headed east for the town of Poros and a days snorkeling, en route we passed a sign saying Lake Avithos, well of course we couldn't just drive by! We saw the usual wall lizards in the car park and then I spotted a water course coming from the lake, I checked this but found nothing but Suzanne shouted that she had found a large inspection hatch. We lifted this expecting to find some geckos but instead found ourselves looking at a flooded chamber, I peered in and noticed a Smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris clinging to the wall at water level. I rolled up my shorts and climbed into the cold water managing to take a couple of photos, there several newts in the water but it was too deep to reach them.
The lake was fenced off but a break allowed entry, here we found the tadpole of a Marsh frog Pelophylax ribidundas
Driving on we noticed a stream with running water and so stopped again finding juvenile Marsh frogs, Greek algyroides and freshwater crabs.
As I climbed out of the stream I noticed an old mattress on top of a piece of board, I flipped the mattress revealing nothing and the tried to lift the board, it broke, I lifted again and it broke again, I lifted the last piece to reveal ...nothing but then something wriggled out from the soil, a Peloponnese slow worm Anguis cephallonica, a species I had given up trying to find.
A few more wall lizards and Marsh frogs completed our day and finished our holiday with a total of14 species seen. A very enjoyable week in beautiful surrounding but the lack of snakes was strange, plenty of sunshine and plenty of food for them, we spent hours walking through a variety of habitats that seemed ideal.
