TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby TH » Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:26 pm

Spent last weekend (10/11 Sept) at De Hoop Nature Reserve and did a lot of scratching around with very little return unfortunately. It is obviously still just a little too cool for most of the reptiles and all we managed to find were the following:

Southern Rock Agama - Agama atra
Ocellated Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus geitje
Knox's Desert Lizard - Meroles knoxii
Cape Legless Skink - Acontias meleagris
Red-sided Skink - Trachylepis homalocephala
Cape Skink - Trachylepis capensis

Not a single snake the whole weekend! Anyway, here are a couple of pics from the weekend:

Ocellated Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus geitje
Image

Red-sided Skink - Trachylepis homalocephala
Image


On Tuesday evening, with all the rain that was falling, we decided to head out to the Durbanville area to look for Rain Frogs and fortunately had some success…

Cape Rain Frog - Breviceps gibbosus
Image
follow my local exploits in the field at:
http://hardakerwildlife.wordpress.com/

see my photos and longer trip reports at:
http://www.hardaker.co.za
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Pythonodipsas » Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:31 pm

Even though you found no snakes, these are still nice finds. Great pics TH. Love the Red-Sided skink.
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Fooble » Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:24 pm

Great images Trevor.
Always appreciate your posts.
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby nvlooi » Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:04 pm

Stunning!! These types of posts always makes my day!

I love the occelated pic. It is something different and not your usual field guide photo.WD


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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Wolf777 » Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:23 pm

Great photos Trevor, gotta love the look of those rain frogs.
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Aaxel » Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:15 pm

That rain frogs face really reminds me of my grandad! :lol:
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Kev » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:15 pm

That red sided skink is awesome...thanks for sharing, always appreciated.
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby TH » Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:27 am

Thanks everyone for your comments - much appreciated!

At least the herp season is starting to "warm up" a little bit down here at the moment - hopefully I will have more photos to post of lots of cool critters in the weeks to come... :D
follow my local exploits in the field at:
http://hardakerwildlife.wordpress.com/

see my photos and longer trip reports at:
http://www.hardaker.co.za
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby TH » Fri Sep 23, 2011 1:37 pm

We spent a bit of time on the west coast on Sunday in pretty horrible weather. Most of the time was spent looking at birds (am I even allowed to mention that on this forum…??!!), but we did scratch around for a few things and managed to find the following:

Angulate Tortoise - Chersina angulata
Striped Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko - Goggia lineata
Karoo Girdled Lizard – Karusasaurus polyzonus
Large-scaled Girdled Lizard - Cordylus macropholis
Variegated Skink – Trachylepis variegata
Cape Skink - Trachylepis capensis
Karoo Sand Snake - Psammophis notostictus
Namaqua Rain Frog - Breviceps namaquensis

Here are a couple of my pics from the day out…

Karoo Sand Snake - Psammophis notostictus
Image

Namaqua Rain Frog - Breviceps namaquensis
Image
follow my local exploits in the field at:
http://hardakerwildlife.wordpress.com/

see my photos and longer trip reports at:
http://www.hardaker.co.za
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Fooble » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:13 pm

Beautiful Trevor!
The Breviceps always look so unimpressed with life.
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Wolf777 » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:46 am

Great pics, especially the Namaqua Rain frog!
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby TH » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:07 pm

A group of friends spent this last weekend in the Hangklip area for some herping. We were hoping to find Berg Adder, but no luck on that one unfortunately. Still managed to find a reasonable selection – here is the list of species we encountered…

Reptiles:

Angulate Tortoise – Chersina angulata
Marsh Terrapin - Pelomedusa subrufa
Southern Rock Agama – Agama atra
Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko - Afrogecko porphyreus
Cape Crag Lizard - Pseudocordylus microlepidotus
Cape Girdled Lizard - Cordylus cordylus
Red-sided Skink - Trachylepis homalocephala
Spotted Skaapsteker - Psammophylax rhombeatus
DOR Cross-marked Grass Snake - Psammophis crucifer
DOR Common Egg-eater - Dasypeltis scabra
Herald Snake - Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia
Common Brown Water Snake - Lycodonomorphus rufulus
Spotted Rock Snake - Lamprophis guttatus
Puffadder - Bitis arietans

Frogs:

Arum Lily Frog - Hyperolius horstockii
Rattling Frog - Semnodactylus wealii
Common Platanna - Xenopus laevis
De Villiers’ Moss Frog - Arthroleptella villiersi (heard only)
Flat Caco - Cacosternum platys
Cape River Frog - Amietia fuscigula
Banded Stream Frog – Strongylopus bonaspei
Clicking Stream Frog - Strongylopus grayii
Cape Sand Frog - Tomopterna delalandii

And a few photos from the weekend…

Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko - Afrogecko porphyreus
Image

Spotted Rock Snake - Lamprophis guttatus
Image

Cape Crag Lizard - Pseudocordylus microlepidotus
Image

Common Brown Water Snake - Lycodonomorphus rufulus
Image

Flat Caco - Cacosternum platys
Image

Puffadder - Bitis arietans
Image

Cape River Frog - Amietia fuscigula
Image

Cape Sand Frog - Tomopterna delalandii
Image

Common Platanna - Xenopus laevis
Image

Arum Lily Frog - Hyperolius horstockii
Image
follow my local exploits in the field at:
http://hardakerwildlife.wordpress.com/

see my photos and longer trip reports at:
http://www.hardaker.co.za
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Fooble » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:33 pm

Impressive list Trevor!
With stunning photo's!

Really enjoyed the guttatus!
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby Kev » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:47 pm

:smt023
Love the pic of the Lily Frog and Puffadder!
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Re: TH's Western Cape herping exploits

Postby nvlooi » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:47 pm

What a photo of the horstockii! WD.


No Herald photos...LOL

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