Hello again!
Here is a report, mostly pictures, of the two weeks (August 2nd to 16th) I spent in southern Bulgaria. The original plan was to have a two week family holiday based near the towns of Bansko and Razlog in the Pirin Mtns. This was not the case though because for almost the whole two weeks there was heavy cloud. This didnt make for ideal conditions for herping, or relaxing! For this reason we drove to the black sea coast for a 5-day break in the sun. The weather here was unbroken sunshine and daytime temperatures usually into the high 20's, much dissimilar to the cooler and wetter mountain climate.
Species I was particularly interested in finding in the mountains were Vipera ammodytes, Zamenis longissimus and Podarcis muralis; I found none of these! I had also read about the endemic sub species of Fire Salamander, Salamandra salamandra beshkovi, but the forest was far too dry at this time of year. Despite 4 mornings or afternoons spent searching in the countryside near Bansko, 2 quick stops along the road near Melnik and the Rozhen Monastery and 2 evening outings at the coast the species list remains rather incomplete, considering the number of species potentially found in these areas. It is well known that summer is not the best season for reptiles or amphibians. That, combined with the lack of specific searches in target areas, seems to compensate partly (at least to me!) for the low number of species found/photographed. The rest is entirely down to my amateur herping skills.
So, enough talk, lets begin with the photos. I will upload them in the order that I took them, so the order is 1) Bansko, Razlog and surroundings - 2) Melnik roadside - 3) Black sea coast - 4) Back to the mountains. I hope you all like them.
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I have found Sand lizards and Green lizards in the area in the foreground, up to the trees. The other side of the trees has these lizards, plus Green toads. Around the fields in the valley there are these two lizards, and in the irrigation channels there are plenty of Marsh frogs and the occasional Agile frog. If you follow the valley to the left for another 8km the you come to a small reservoir - here there are Marsh frogs, the two Lacerta lizards and Grass snakes.
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And now some of the animals..
1) Pirin Mountains
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When I first found this frog I was convinced it was a Balkan stream frog, but having looked at a number of books I am now thinking it is an Agile frog. Is this correct? To me the nostrils seemed too close to each other and the snout was rounded, like Rana graeca, but there was no dark chin in this specimen, and it was a rather poor swimmer, more typical of an agile frog.
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This lizard was very friendly.. When I placed my hand down near the lizard she reacted in a very unusual way - she proceeded to walk over to my fingers, about 20cms away, then lick them! This was the first time I had tried anything like it, and the weird thing is that there was another Sand lizard which did a similar thing later on in the holiday. This lizard was by far the easiest I have ever caught, as it was obligingly picked up and needed no restraining.. Has anyone ever heard of this before, or had it happen to them? It is strange that only the Sand lizards did this; the Green lizards were much more wary and it took a great amount of skill to get within a meter or so of them.
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2) Melnik
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This was the first Hermann's tortoise I have seen, apart from a road-killed one last year near Blagoevgrad. This one was saved from the road back from a monastery near Melnik, about 2kms from this next one.
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Also seen were 3 road-killed Caspian whipsnakes and a Balkan wall lizard crossing the road just in front of the car. Wildlife around here seems to have a death wish!
3) Black sea coast
Here we stayed in a town called Elinite about 2kms from Sv Vlas. Despite two searches in the woods above the town I couldn't see any Meadow lizards, a species known to occur here. However, I did manage to see more Hermann's tortoises, Balkan wall lizards, and three firsts for me - Balkan green lizards, Snake-eyed skinks and a Caspian whipsnake which unfortunately got away. Not a bad place to herp if you have the stealth to see wildlife before it sees you!
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4) Back to the Mountains
Here it was still cloudy, but about 20*C at 100m absl. Not too bad for herping, especially during summer. Here are a few more of my favourite photos from the last few days of the holiday:
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On the last day of the holiday we decided to go up the mountain road in the car. The road led up to the Gondola station at 1600m absl, the up a further 500m to about 2100m absl, where it ended. Here it was quite cool at around 14*C, but that didnt stop me from finding a gravid Viviparous lizard 'basking' on a rock, and a male on the other side of the river. This lizard is limited to the high mountains in Bulgaria, usually above 1700m in the south. So this was not a species I was expecting to find, especially so easily.
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Another wierd thing happened with this lizard. I'm not sure if she was just cold and trying to maximise heat intake to aid the developing young, but after a few photos I found a twig and managed to move the chewing gum from the middle of the rock to try and make a more natural image. I did this, and got some more pictures, as close as 5cms - enough to use super macro on my camera, and this lizard hadnt even been caught. Now for the strange thing - this lizard licked my fingers too! and when my hand was flat on the rock next to her, she crawled onto it, presumably to get more warmth.. These Buglarian lizards are the friendliest I have ever come across! Needless to say the lizard was released and went straight back to basking on the rock.
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As you can see the tail is very thin, probably due to the short active period the reptiles up here have and the added strain of having a number of babies developing within. I imagine the lizards here do not often survive for long, especially with hardly any fat reserves to last from September to April/May when the snow finally melts at this altitude. Hopefully this lizard managed to avoid the birds of prey, give birth and eat some insects before going into hibernation again.
And now for the habitat - this has to be one of the most beautiful places to herp in Europe! Apart form hikers it is completely undisturbed and natural, which is not often found.
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Also supposedly found in this area are tree frogs and Adders. Alpine newts and common frogs should also be present as these are other high-mountain specialists in the southern balkans.
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I hope you have enjoyed this post, and feel free to ask anything about the reptiles and amphibians in this part of Bulgaria. I would strongly recommend a trip to this part of Europe; there are so many species to be found within about 150km of here... Unbelievable.
Cheers
Dan
I think you're frog is R.temporaria...but it's not R.dalmatina!Any other photos of that individual? Interesting stuff about the L.agilis behaviour! Thanks for sharing!