A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to accompany a Peruvian masters student, Vanessa Uscapi, on a field trip to Madre Selva, near Quillabamba. She is studying the amphibians in this region and in 2011 found a new species here (Noblella madreselva). Her studies are particularly important as the region is not a protected area and tourism is growing rapidly. Not surprising as its a really stunning part of the world.
You may have heard in the news that Peru has been suffering with some very severe flooding. The region I'm in has not been affected so badly as Lima and the north but due to road closures and generally vast amounts of rain, I didn't have as long as I hoped in the field. Torrential rain at 10pm every night hampered our frog finding excursions and unfortunately I never got to film N. madreselva (the day after I left she found a ton of them!) - Oh well, I'm learning a lot about the realities of the field, when working with wildlife you win some, you lose some. My next 2 blog posts will feature some big wins, and I still saw some pretty neat frogs on this trip. There will be a little film about her work down the line, but for now, a few pics:
