Andros (Cyclades), Greece

7th- 17th April

This island has been on my radar for years, but I never ended up there because there aren’t direct ferries between some of the more southerly Cyclades islands which I have visited. The easiest way to get there is from Rafina port on the mainland in Attica. With 40c temperatures and 90% humidity a daily norm in Phuket, it was a perfect excuse to escape the tropics and enjoy some more pleasant conditions with a visit to Andros in April.

As we were travelling far to get there, we decided not to island hop on this occasion and give Andros the full focus and attention that it deserves. The excellent Andros Routes website already provided us with plans for daily exercise combined with looking for animals. Although relatively poorly visited previously for its herpetofauna, Andros was alive with legends of European herpetology this April. Jeroen Speybroeck was in attendance with his girlfriend Gwen, Bert Vandebosch was also in attendance with his family, and towards the end of our stay, Benny Trapp and his friend Michal also dropped by for a few days. The unexpected popularity of Andros with herpetologists this April allowed me to catchup with old friends and finally meet some others in person. That being said, we each had our own plans and we only met up for dinner one evening so not to cramp each others style. We did spend a very successful afternoon and subsequent morning searching with Benny and Michal on our final day which allowed for some last minute highlights.

My own motivations for visiting the island was to see just how abundant (or rare) some species are compared to most of the Cyclades islands that I have previously visited. In particular, the Tinos green lizard (Lacerta citrovittata) should be more common here with the green and well-watered valleys. A visit from Siegfried and Angelika Troidl (www.lacerta.de) certainly seemed to confirm the idea that these endemic ‘green’ lizards are more abundant on Andros compared to the rest of the Cyclades. Thanks guys for the tips for finding this species!

Kat and I hired a typical Cycladic-style house near the port town of Gavrio, which was our base for 11 days on this stunning island. Each day followed a typical routine of one morning and one afternoon walk. The weather was fantastic the whole time, with maximum temperatures of 22c, some cloudy days, and one day of extreme winds which cancelled any hiking. In fact, those cheeky Meltemi winds were omnipresent, but gradually became less annoying after the first days once I got accustomed to them. A few brief points regarding the herpetofauna on Andros after my visit:

Bufo bufo breeds in flowing streams on Andros and reaches the same large adult size of those on the mainland. This is the only island in the Cyclades where this species occurs.
Pelophylax ridibundus is widespread and common. But considering the amount of freshwater available, it isn’t exactly ‘everywhere’.
Podarcis erhardii mykonensis is extremely common in all habitats on Andros, even those severely burnt last summer. More so than on most other Cyclades islands.
Lacerta citrovittata is indeed more common than all of the other islands that I have visited, although still not exactly easy to find and photograph.
Mediodactylus kotschyi is extremely common, Hemidactylus turcicus likely the same although it is more active in warmer conditions than during my visit.
Mauremys rivulata is common and inhabits numerous freshwater sources. A contrast to almost all of the other Cyclades islands and Andros should without doubt be considered as its stronghold on the islands.
Dolichophis caspius is common and widespread
Zamenis situla appears to have duller, more faded markings as well as a larger than average adult size on Andros as referenced in the literature
Elaphe quatuorlineata should be part of the ‘muenteri’ subspecies known from the Cyclades, like those on nearby Tinos and Mykonos. However, animals recently photographed by myself and others indicate an unusual morphology of adult animals from Andros which mostly lack or have very faded stripes along the dorsum. Similar to animals reported from Amorgos in the south-east Cyclades. Juveniles would appear to be identical to those from nearby islands.
Natrix natrix probably represents the subspecies ‘schweizeri‘ on Andros, and is likely more abundant here than elsewhere in the Cyclades owing to the much greater abundance of suitable water sources.
Vipera ammodytes is abundant and widespread, males reaching slightly larger lengths of the typically small Cyclades vipers, but all other features are in line with those from neighbouring islands (more slender body shape, long horn on the nose etc). The three females I saw on Andros all had grey ground colouration with light brown zig zags.

I didn’t find Ablepharus kitaibelli or Telescopus fallax, but I would assume that both species will be widespread and common in the right conditions. Cloudy and cooler weather for the skink, and warmer nights for the cat snake (May-October).

Andros (C) Google Maps

If you would rather watch a video than read a trip report, here is a video that Kat put together covering our trip:

As Andros is quite a large island, it took a couple of days to figure the place out. That being said, the desired Tinos green lizard (Lacerta citrovittata) appeared very quickly along with the omnipresent Erhard’s wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) and Kotschyi’s geckos (Mediodactylus kotschyi). The latter two were found on every drystone wall that I inspected during the trip. On my first day I was a little slow off the mark with the snakes. The first of many nose-horned vipers (Vipera ammodytes) surprised me during my first walk as it sunbathed on the steps in front of me and vanished into a stone wall. Minutes later I was no better prepared for a second individual that vanished even faster. Same story for a Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) which crossed my path and disappeared with no photo taken. The following morning we briefly met with Bert and family at the same locality. After years of trying to collaborate at some point, it was great to finally meet Bert and do some herping together. However, our only notable find that morning was another disappearing whip snake. After being invited by the Vandebosch family for dinner (plus Jeroen and Gwen) the following evening, we set off on our own to a different location that afternoon. Here more green lizards and finally I got photos of my first viper of the trip.

Lacerta citrovittata

The next day back to the same place I had found the last viper. The weather was great and in 2 hours I found 6 vipers basking in this area, all of which I left in situ. A few more green lizards were also seen but didn’t hang around for photos. In the afternoon I drove to some coastal wetlands which had a nice abundance of Balkan terrapins (Mauremys rivulata), which is becoming rare on most of the Cyclades these days. The first marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) were also seen. Two Caspian whip snakes also crossed the roads as I was driving around, without any heroic dives to catch them for photos.

Vipera ammodytes in situ

The next morning more vipers, as well as managing to get some photos of a Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius). I saw this species every day but hardly ever got shots before they raced off at top speed. I’m getting a bit old to throw myself onto the ground these days! In the afternoon, some beautiful inland brooks were visited, again with an abundance of terrapins, frogs and two disappearing whip snakes.

Dolichophis caspius

The lavender valley.

A few clouds started to appear and on a different morning after seeing the daily vipers, I spotted a shiny piece of body of a snake in a stone wall. This leopard snake (Zamenis situla) was clearly basking in its sneaky way which makes it so challenging to find at times. It gave no resistance as I gently encouraged it out of its hiding place for a few photos and then returned it five minutes later. One of the highlights of the trip without a doubt, but unfortunately I had also seen a large adult killed on the road the day before. Jeroen also got lucky with this species, finding a similar large adult to my live specimen on his last day on Andros. A PM visit to a remote beach didn’t produce much apart from more terrapins and a pretty male viper crossing the road. A DOR juvenile four-lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata) was also seen.

Zamenis situla

Vipera ammodytes in situ crossing a dirt road

One night I finally got off my arse and decided to go out and get photos of the common toads (Bufo bufo) which live on Andros. As this is their only locality in the Cyclades I thought I should get some photos of them. A nice stream passing across a tarmac road produced three large animals which should be females at that size. The following morning’s walk was in the south of the island, a juvenile whip snake and two vipers were seen in situ as well as two more vipers crossing the road.

Bufo bufo

We met up with Benny and Michal for a PM search in our favourite valley. Benny showed me a viper he had found nearby dead on the road which had an interesting linear pattern on part of its body. The cloudy weather with strong winds seemed to really suit the snakes. Benny found a much desired Milos grass snake (Natrix natrix schweizeri) and I spotted two male vipers. Benny then found a large female viper which was a nice change from seeing all of the males.

Natrix natrix schweizeri

Vipera ammodytes female

Again we met with Benny and Michal the following morning. While the guys searched the lower ends of the valley, I hiked a little further up. After photographing a stunningly blue Tinos green lizard, I came across a rare scene. A female viper had just struck a wall lizard, and as I arrived the viper had let it go. I slowly stepped back once I spotted the viper and by remaining motionless the viper was confident enough to return to the lizard which was now mostly paralysed from the effects of the injected venom. It took around three minutes for the viper to consume the unfortunate wall lizard before it retreated away into the vegetation. After this amazing encounter, I saw two more male vipers out basking and another stunningly blue Tinos green lizard. Meeting up with Benny and Michal again, they had also seen some vipers down in the lower part of the valley. I said goodbye to the guys and ventured off for a final afternoon drive around Andros.

I decided to stop at another stream valley which I had not yet explored properly. As a I walked down a narrow gully I spotted a large snake basking on top of a drystone wall among some prickly brambles and protected by an equally spiky fence. As the uniform brown coloured snake slowly slithered away, I realised that I was actually looking at a four-lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata) and not the lightening fast whip snake that I initially thought it was. One of my main targets of the trip! Despite inspecting the stone wall, I couldn’t see the snake anymore. It was well-protected anyway by the sharp fencing and all the brambles. I decided to continue the hike but I was very disappointed to miss that snake, especially as its morphology was different to the dozens of adult four-lined snakes that I have seen elsewhere in Greece. Some time later as I walked back through the same gully I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that the snake had returned to the same open, sunny spot on the wall where it was previously. This time in spite of the very sharp and prickly obstacles, I managed to get my photos. Once I got a better look at this snake, I could barely see the typical four lines which gives this snake its English common name. Other photos I had seen from on Andros also showed a similar morphology. A fantastic way to end the trip!

While driving to the port to catch the boat to Rafina the next morning, another viper was sitting on the road down to Gavrio. Andros was certainly one of the nicest islands in the Cyclades that I’ve visited, I’ll be back for sure!