New year, new trip! The first one of the year was Mallorca. I was looking for a place with not too much species, but just a few new interesting ones. So Mallorca was the perfect Island to go to. I was there for 3,5 days with my dad, to start off the year good with some nice weather and hopefully new herp species!

3 January 2024

This day we flew from Eindhoven airport to Mallorca. We arrived at the airport of Palma that evening. We collected the rental car and drove to our hotel in Can Pastilla. After checking in at our hotel we went eating in an Indian restaurant at the other side of the street. When we were finished we walked (with a ice cream of course) a bit outside the town of Can Pastilla. Here I flipped some stuff and found the first herps of the trip: Tarentola mauritanica.

4 January 2024

The first target for today was to find Macroprotodon. We drove 20 minutes to a field where I was hoping to see a lot of stones I could flip, but it was a bit disappointing. First we found a lot of Tarentola mauritanica. Then after searching for an hour I lifted a small stone and found my first target Macroprotodon mauritanicus! It was a small one, but I was very happy with it, as I expected it to be a lot harder to find. After we made some photos of the snake we released it back. The first job was done and we decided to drive to the city of Palma to look for our second target, that was Podarcis pityusensis. A released population of this species lives in the capital of Mallorca. This Podarcis species is native to Ibiza. It wasn’t easy to find it because of the cloudy weather, but after some time I spotted the first one on a wall. It was really fast gone and didn't come back unfortunately. On the way back to the car we finally saw more of Podarcis pityusensis and this time I was able to photograph them. When we were back in the car we drove to the other side of the Island for the last two targets of today. The first one was Bufotes viridis balearicus. After searching for more than an hour I finally found it! I didn't expect it to be that hard to find, but maybe it was due to the drought. Then we moved on to the last location for today. The final target was to find Alytes muletensis. A very rare species that originally only occurs in the mountains of 'Serra de Tramuntana'. It was already starting to get dark, so I went directly into the mountains. It was very difficult to find the right way, especially once it became completely dark. The mountain slopes were very steep sometimes and the range of my phone was very poor, so that made it even more difficult. After searching for almost two hours I finally found the stream I was looking for. I followed the stream, which had completely dried up. Meanwhile, I found my second Tarentola mauritanica of the night. Then after 20 minutes there was a lot of standing water! I immediately spotted some larvae of Alytes muletensis and when I looked a bit further I saw many more of them. Just after that I heared at least one adult calling from quite far. I searched a bit around the water, but didn't find an adult. It was completely dry, but the temperatures this night were quite high. I decided to walk back, because my dad was still waiting for me in the car. At that moment I heared another toad calling, but again from too far away. I searched my way back through the high mountain slopes. At a moment I wanted to check my phone for the best route and when I stopped walking I spotted an adult of Alytes muletensis in front of me!! How lucky is that! I was incredibly happy with this find! After taking some quick photos I managed to get back to the car. What an adventure!

5 January 2024

The only target left for this trip was Podarcis lilfordi. Today we wanted to try and find this species. Our plan was to first look in a harbour where an introduced population lives. When we got there it didn't take long before we found the first Podarcis lilfordi. Later I found a second one and a Tarentola mauritanica. Afterwards we drove more south to Cap de Ses Salines. We parked the car and walked for half an hour along the coast to a tiny islet, where a native population of Podarcis lilfordi occurs. I wanted to swim to the islet, but it turned out to be too dangerous. The waves were high and the sea was wild, so we decided not to do it. On the way back we stopped again at the harbour from earlier today. This time I found one new Podarcis lilfordi and a dead one as well. That was it for today.

6 January 2024

Our last day and last chance to see Podarcis lilfordi in his natural habitat. We had two options for today. The first one was going back to the islet of yesterday, hoping that the sea would be calmer this time. The second one was to go looking in the harbour of Sant Elm, if there would be a ferry that goes to the island of Sa Dragonera. As there was a very little chance that a ferry would go today, we decided to go back to the tiny islet of yesterday. We bought a towel and a pair of water shoes and drove back southward. But when we arrived we saw much higher waves than yesterday. We did walk to the islet, but also there the sea was too wild to do it. Very disappointing… Again we went to the harbour of the introduced population. First we ate something in a restaurant and then I went looking for some lizards. It was 4.00pm already and I hadn't seen anything that day yet. In the end, I found just one Podarcis lilfordi and a Tarentola mauritanica. On the way back to the hotel we stopped once for a dead Hemorrhois hippocrepis, that I had already spotted on the road earlier that day. In the evening I searched a bit along some ditches to might hear or see Pelophylax perezi, but I didn't observe it. The next morning we flew back to Holland.