Amphibious welcome in Germany

After three marvellous months in Costa Rica, I am back in Germany. Of course it's great to finally see my girlfriend, family and friends again. But the temperature drop was enormous and unfortunately I am not surrounded by that much nature here as I was in Costa Rica. Luckily there are still some beautiful amphibians around. Shortly after my arrival in Germany I was able to see some of those. For example the Barred Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra terrestris) and the Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris). Like most amphibians they are nocturnal, so I keep doing night tours... unlike in Costra Rica, here in Germany I don't need to watch out for venemous snakes like the Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper). 

Good newts, everyone!

I was never really satisfied with the process of catching newts out of the water during their aquatic phase and putting them on moss covered stones, or something like that, to take pictures of them.

Most pictures doesn't  look very natural and they hardly show the beauty of the newts.

So I did not have to reinvent the wheel, by simply putting them into a small aquarium.

It should be very narrow for a good and efficient result. The newts swim around in their temporary home a little, I get some nice "underwater" shots and as a reward for their cooperation I like to feed them some mosquito larvae, or whatever I have at hand. Newts aren't picky.

That's my aquarium on a fancy little stool... to make it even more comfortable

Palmate Newt - Lissotriton helveticus

Palmate Newt - Lissotriton helveticus

Alpine Newt - Ichthyosaura alpestris, larva

Alpine Newt - Ichthyosaura alpestris, male

If you don't have a waterproof camera, this is a good way to get nice pics anyway. Of course you can also take pictures of fish, tadpoles, or any other water creature you can find... and catch. Make sure to release the photo models at the same place where you caught them.