Hi Mike

Never heard of 'herping' until I accidentally came across this website/forum and I'm not a herper as such so please excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject. Probably the most famous snakes on the the island are the 'holy' snakes of Markopoulo and Arginia, some old photos from the Markopoulo 'snake festival' here: http://goinggreek.info/forum/index.php?app=gallery&module=user&user=1&do=view_album&album=75

Quite a few snakes on the island, not sure how many varieties, mostly I can only get pics of roadkill. Lizards and geckos are quite common, I've also seen what looked like a legless lizard (been on the ouzo?).

Quite a lot of frogs, including some huge ones (heard they were imported from America).

From what I can find out, these can be found on Kef:
Slow worm, Occelated Skink, Agama - three snake-like lizards
Large Whip Snake, Nose-Horned Viper

Also, someone I know reckons they saw a Leopard Snake in/around Katelios.

Hope that's some help

Maik
 

The snake from Maik's link is Telescopus fallax.

http://en.balcanica.info/5-56-1 contains 5 species records (A. kitaibelii, D. caspius, M. insignitus, P. tauricus and V. ammodytes) from Kevin Byrnes. 

Hi Mike,

I have visited Kefalonia 3 times and the following species you can find there are:

Lissotriton vulgaris (graecus)
Hyla arborea
Bufo viridis
Bufo bufo
Pelophylax ridibundus
Testudo hermanni
Emys orbicularis
Mauremys rivulata
Caretta caretta
Ablepharus kitaibelli
Algyroides nigropunctatus
Algyroides moreoticus
Tarentola mauritanica
Hemdidactylus turcicus
Mediodactylus kotschyi
Podarcis tauricus
Lacerta trilineata
Anguis cephallonicus
Pseudopus apodus
Natrix natrix
Malpolon insignitus
Dolichophis caspius
Elaphe quatuorlineata
Zamenis situla
Telescopus fallax
Vipera ammodytes

All amphibians are quite common, although in late spring/summer, very few water sources are evident.

All of the lizards are common and widespread, but L.trilineata is rather uncommon for some very strange reason. A.nigropunctatus inhabits shady, stream valleys away from habitation, whereas A.moreoticus is found in all habitats, even around hotels etc.

Podarcis tauricus is the most abundant reptile species.

Emys orbicularis is possibly extinct on the island, and Mauremys only found at 3 localities as far as I know. Testudo hermanni is not so common either.

Malpolon insignitus is very common, there is a record for H.gemonensis but I regard this snake as being absent from Kefalonia, and the record as a mistaken D.caspius that is quite common there.

Platyceps najadum is not found on Kefalonia, Ithaki or Zakynthos. And in my opinion, neither are Natrix tessellata, Typhlops vermicularis or Eryx jaculus.

Oddly I never found any E.quatuorlineata, in contrast to on the neighbouring island of Zakynthos where I and others have found many of them. Currently the records for this snake are in the form of a two sloughed skins.

Hope this helps,

Matt 

Thanks, Petr & Matt, *lots* of information there I wasn't aware of.

Maik 

Dear all,

Many thanks for your help here, I guess that next years' spring trip will be to Kefalonia.
Matt, if I were to go in late April / early May would this be early enought to see the amphibians?

Cheers
Mike 

Hi Mike,

Although the amphibians breeding season will be over by then, you should still be able to observe them if you are willing to go and look for them at night. Hyla arborea call all the way into summer so you will certainly hear them at night.

It may seem abit silly, but in Kefalonia I used to find lots of Bufo bufo, Bufo viridis and Hyla arborea sitting/hunting around swimming pools at night...

There aren't too many ponds or streams to visit, but if it rains try going for a short night drive and you will surely find amphibians hunting on the tarmac roads.

Matt 

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a try.

On a slightly different subject I was in Corfu a couple of years ago, (in Dassia) observing night time breeding of Hyla Arborea in a disused swimmimg pool. A short distance away from the pool I heard the distinctive call of an American Bullfrog - is it possible in Corfu that some irresponsible person has released these here too? It was almost definitely a bullfrog.

Cheers

Mike 

Mike,

What streams there are may still be flowing in May, there was a family of terrapin-type things in one of the Katelios streams but I haven’t seen them since a mid-summer flash flood several years ago.

There’s a wetland area at the end of tbe lagoon that separates Argostoli from Lixouri, the Livadi marsh is well known to birders, may be worth a look?

The two reservoirs at Tzanata (near Poros) are definitely home to many frogs. One of the reservoirs is easily visible from the Poros-Argostoli road, the other is not visible from the road but is above the new reservoir on the other side of the road, track next to the petrol station.

There’s also the ‘bottomless’ (and slightly spooky) Lake Avithos at Agios Nikolaos on the Poros - Sami road and a smaller pond about two-thirds of the way along the Poros - Sami road, just about visible in pic: http://goinggreek.info/forum/uploads/1280090592/gallery_1_75_36225.jpg

Also, there’s a duck pond at Karavomilos (outside Sami) and the very near-by Melissani underground lake is worth a visit, although maybe not from a herps-spotting viewpoint.

Happy hunting!

Maik

PS Round about May time is 'snake suicide season', look out for roadkill.

 

Maik,

Many thanks for your help, I will try to visit these places when I go to Kefalonia next spring.

Do you live on Kefalonia, or do you simply know a lot about the island?

Best wishes

Mike 

Hi Mike

I live on Kef, but still have a lot to learn about the island. The information from Petr and Matt was quite fascinating.

Going off topic, we have some big birds of prey out here (probably not eagles but definitely buzzards) and a herd of wild ponies. One thing we don't have is an extensive bus service.

Regards

Maik
 

Hi Mauk,

The bus isn't a problem, I will be hiring a car for the visit.

Many thanks

Mike 

Interesting topic! I'll be on Kef in May this year, so the tips are welcome!
Maingoal is trying to observe the mating of Caretta caretta, but all other interesting sites for herps are good to know.
 

We visited the island a few years back It was possible then to watch Caretta in the Argosotli lagoon, behind the Drapano bridge. One of the quayside bars had a sign out advertising the fact you could sit and watch the turtles from their restaurant. We saw a single turtle on three separate visits. This was in late May. 

Thanks for the tip: turtlewatching nearby a restaurant with a cold beer sounds like a plan!

I already contacted the Katelios Group for the protection of seaturtles, so we can visit them also and maybe help a little bit with some beachcleaning or so. As long as I'm there I can make myself useful!

Another small request... does anyone have these articles on file:

Buttle, D. (1995). An introduction to reptiles &
amphibians of the Greek islands. Reptilian 3(7), 15–25.

Clark, R. (1991). Observations on the lizard and snake
fauna of the islands Kephallinia and Zakynthos,
Ionian Sea, Greece. Herptile 16(2), 81–92

cheers!
Joris 

The first one, yes, at home. Send me an e-mail, so I remember. 

Jeroen, many thanks, email with my contactdetails is on its way! 

Hi Joris,
I will send them both to your e-mail address
David Buttle 

Hi David, also many thanks for yur help, but your emails were rejected by my server for some reason. I could not open the attachments, sorry.. 

Hi Joris,
As I was in a hurry to go out I tried sending the whole thing in one go but it was in a folder somehow protected by my security settings. Have now sent the pages individually so you should have it ok.
David 

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