Hi,
Previous weekend I made a short trip to the north east of France with a few friends.
The main goal was to find Spadefoot toads (Pelobates fuscus). It was a very wet weekend, ideal to observe amphian activity.
So besides our target we saw also a big amount of other species. On Sunday we drove more to the west and were very lucky to find a few Asp vipers (Vipera aspis) on a rare sunny moment.
Some pictures:
First we made a stop at some ponds with an introduced population of Fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina). Hundreds of animals were calling but we didn't bring a net so no pictures apart from a single juvenile.
At the pelobates spot hundreds of Tree frogs (Hyla arborea) were out and about and all three species of waterfrog were observed...
Edible frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus):
We found 3 Spadefoots on the track:
Strange enough only one "Common" toad (Bufo bufo):
In a pond we saw a few Northern crested newts (Triturus cristatus)
The next day on top and underneath the same metal plate:
Just before another thunder storm we also found some Slow worms (Anguis fragilis):
male and female together:
The rain made us decide to change location to an old quarry with a big pond in it.
Here we observed a lot of newts in the water: Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris), Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus) and again Northern crested newt.
A lot of Midwife toads started calling and we found many under stones...
...also two Smooth snakes (Coronella austriaca), a Wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) and a subadult crested newt:
Even with a damaged eye, this one can get some eggs:
Then we got fed up with the rain and drove back north with this scenery:
Greetings
Bert