Easter 2018, we organised a collaborative trip with the Bangor University Herpetological Society to Slovenia and Croatia. Our aim was to provide students with the opportunity to get out into the field which wouldn’t involve long flights and high costs whilst still providing the opportunity to find a diverse range of amphibian and reptiles. We opted not to visit the more well-known locations which can often be found via a range of websites and social media. Instead we would identify suitable habitat based on the known natural history of our target species once we were in country. Not only would this allow all of the participants a chance to develop a range of useful field skills, it also meant we had the opportunity to find species in areas which they had previously not been recorded, including the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra).

Upon arriving in Slovenia, we did begin to worry as we drove to our mountain accommodation. A recent storm had brought a lot of snow. Luckily, the amphibians did not care as we encountered hundreds of breeding toads in what little defrosted ponds were available and after a fairly tough search we were rewarded with a fire salamander at the top of one of the smaller mountain foothills.

Following our amphibian based success, we were disheartened when the snow would prevent us reaching some of the sunnier mountain slopes in hopes of vipers. But, following our arrival in Croatia, we were rewarded with three beautiful long-nosed vipers (Vipera ammodytes) after a morning of searching one of the islands.

What initially turned out to be a worrying snow filled herping trip (it feels very strange to write that!) we were extremely happy to tick off most of our target species whilst learning a lot about the tolerance of amphibians and taking a wild train ride below the surface of the Slovenian mountains to see the elusive olm (Proteus anguinus). Don’t forget to get in touch if you’d like to learn more about joining our expeditions!