Para-Dice snakes!

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Andrew Gray

I just can’t believe how beautiful Corfu is – it really is a Zoologist’s paradise. Today I went with Matt to the beautiful Ropa Valley in Central Corfu and we searched for herps along a little river that flows through the centre. It’s hard to explain just how diverse the areas we are going to are, particularly for this time of year when its so hot. The river’s edge was lush with green vegetation and thick with the most amazing insects and birdlife. Walking ankle deep through wild lavender, surrounded by large colourful dragonflies, we saw lots of fabulous creatures.

The river contained many terrapins which quickly dived for cover. They soon realised we were no threat – and came back out to check us out! We also saw two species of snake, including grass snakes and the rarer Dice snake. Marsh frogs sat calling and sunbathing at the water’s surface, it was magical to just sit there and witness it all…