Searching for fire salamanders during a family walk.

We were on family vacations last month and in the course of some of our hikes in the woods, we tried to locate some fire salamanders. This well known amphibian is an old favourite of mine but I realized that my children never had the chance to see one in the flesh, in its habitat at least. That day, we were wandering in a very interesting deciduous forest in south western France. The initial goal was to observe beetles (we would find some) but it occurred to me that this habitat was likely to host some fire salamanders as well.

Quite quickly, we spotted this small natural pond filled with shallow water. It was localized under trees, there was virtually no vegetation, the bed of the pond was covered with litter and the water was clean. I was sure this would be suitable for Salamandra salamandra larvae. 

And I was right! :-)

In another spot, in another forest, we found a small abandonned trough that we checked immediately.

Here it is.

And yes, according to the children, there was definitevely something moving in this diminutive 'pond'!

So daddy went to check...

... and we were delighted to find several babies Salamanders!

We did try to locate some adults that were suppose to hide beneath the stones and old wood nearby but we did not have a lot of time so we didn't find any. I bet that with a couple of hours and a bit of luck, a close inspection would have revealed some magnificent adult Salamanders. Ah, next time! ;-)