Very nice, I liked the muddy parts. 

I didn't ;-)... 

And the car-related issues... 

Jeroen, really nice to see all the observations made by such a bunch of enthusiastic herpetologists! ;-)

Especially I like Salamandrina terdigitata. I always bring with me wellingtons for working in ponds.

Well done!

Kind regards,
Henrik Bringsøe 

? What are wellingtons, Henrik? 

Wellingtons are rubber boots that go to your knees for wearing in muddy conditions. A very British name! 

That was great! Congratulations on the asp viper. I would have expected you to find some quatuorlineata as well, though.. Maybe that species really is very rare in Calabria? Was I really very lucky to find one last year? 

And of course congratulations on a great trip! The Zamenis really are great, I am quite jealous of the Salamandrina! 

> Was I really very lucky to find one last year?
Cannot say for sure, Tom, but we spent quite a great deal of our time at somewhat higher altitudes, where quatuorlineata is likely to be "replaced" by Zamenis lineatus. While we -of course- hoped to find this species, lineatus and aspis hugyi were (due to their novelty) much more of interest to us.

Then again: if you look at our strangely poor viper result, it's never easy to say.

So many factors, related to local abundance and activity patterns (related to chance of finding any): weather of the day, weather of the previous days, weeks, months, local predation level, timing within the season (differs slightly each year), being lucky, ...

In the case of quatuorlineata, I would not rule out that its presence in the S Italian coastal areas is not continuous, so local extinction events might not (or hardly) be compensated by (moderately swift, if any) recolonisation. 

Thanks, Matt.

While vipers were scarce, we were blessed with 12 individuals of our more or less final and highly desired European snake species. While our first animal was a "milk eye", it can also indeed be a beautiful species. Remarkable was that one of them, while being held, very rapidly moved the extreme tip of its tail. This is something I have observed before only in a single Telescopus and a Platyceps collaris. No idea what it might mean/serve.

> Salamandrina
You just have to love these tiny creatures... We were very lucky to find one at this quite late time of the year (I think). Back in 2005, we had clearly hit their activity peak in Pollino, just coming out of hibernation. Also there have not been that many sightings from the Serra San Bruno area, so that was nice as well.

Coincidently related to my snake tail story, it was very remarkable to notice how controlled and elegant this salamander moved its tail. Still have yet to see the typical Salamandrina defensive display, but I guess that means we didn't treat it all too badly ;-).

Being so small and a typical restless salamander that always wants to keep moving out of that damn light, the only downside of this Salamandrina was the sound of cursing photographers (OK, just Jan ;o) ) in the nocturnal woods. 

I have great admiration for more amphibian based trips, although of course the main aim of this trip for you was two snakes, I especially admire your trip reports that do not neglect amphibians in favour of reptiles. I remember talking to Bobby about this on our trip, that it takes a different level of herpetologist to be as excited by a spadefoot toad or tree frog as a sand boa or ottoman viper. I am now officially a passionate fanatic about both animal groups ;-) Despite the heaps of snakes we found on our trip, Pelobates syriacus is still the undisputed highlight for me! 

I forgot to mention that many of my future trips will probably evolve more around salamanders and other amphibians. I can't say I know alot about Salamandrina, but your observations seem very interesting. I will mention this behaviour to my boss at the museum as he is a renowned amphibian/salamander expert.
Matt 

> it takes a different level of herpetologist to be as
> excited by a spadefoot toad or tree frog as a sand boa or
> ottoman viper.
:-)))

I guess the thrill is somewhat correlated with the effort to find a species, but I'm just too lazy to be only into snakes. Besides that, I've always hated popular animals, like birds etc.

I hope no-one took that last sentence all too serious.