Australia November 2010 field herping FULL POST! PART 1

A short time ago, I was lucky to be able to visit Australia with Dave Nixon a fellow herper and keen photographer from England.

Of all the countries I have visited over the years, I must say that Australia is perhaps the most memorable mainly due to the size of the place and the fact that it was seriously hard work herping there.

In the 16 days we were there, I think we flipped more rocks than a chain gang yet only uncovered two critters in total. The majority of herps were encountered during early morning walks or during the evening with the rest being road cruise critters. Of course it goes without saying that we had a lot of help from herpers across in Australia and you guys and galls out there are the real starts of the trip from your friendship to your hospitality a big thanks from me.

This place is so big that we had three internal flights to ensure that we covered as much ground as possible and herped constantly ignoring fatigue and jet lag.

Was it worth it?

Yes, I am please with a number of my images whilst the ones I am not so happy with will ensure I return to Australia and plan to do so next year with a little luck.

As for gear, I try to travel light (having learned to do so on herping trips to North and South America) with one DSLR body, a compact camera as back up a wide-angle lens, a small telephoto and a 105mm macro for those intimate shots. Some of the gear I’m using is getting old but mostly it works well, if a little slow.

I’ve been experimenting with wide-angle work in South Africa earlier in the year and back in England with a view to getting a certain style of image. As a result, I will freely admit I did probably push to the limit with some of the snakes but it worked out ok.

Our route was England to Sydney, Sydney to Brisbane, Brisbane to Townsville; we then spend 5 days driving across the outback to Alice Springs, Alice spring to Perth and finally home from Perth.

Anyway enough of the talk and I’ll let the images do the talking

This is a brief record of some of the species we were lucky enough to be able to see close up.

Apologies for missing some names put feel free to pm me and I will correct/include them.


Eastern Brown Snake
Pseudonaja textilis
Wide angle close up


Different snake in slough


Juvenille/neonate Eastern Brown


From a new angle


Moving an Eastern Brown


Eastern Brown in a bad mood


Wide angle Brown


Tiger Snake
Notechis scutatus


From a very low viewpoint


A nicely marked Tiger


Red Bellied Black Snake
Pseudechis porphyriacus
Like all black snakes a bitch to get the right exposure


Very young Diamond Python


Another Red Bellied Black


Fun with a big Brown Snake


No closer please!


My favorite image


Small Eyed Snake
Cryptophis nigrescens
wouldnt sit still and black..........arghhhhhhhhh!


Rough Scaled Snake
Tropidechis carinatus
A scary little elapid with nasty venom


A different Brown Snake showing her fangs


Brown Tree Snake
Boiga irregularis


Doing the wide-angle thing again!


Curl Snake
Suta suta


head shot of same


One of many DOR Black headed python in the outback

Well thats about half of what I planned to post so more tomorrow!

Thanks for looking

Graeme

Just great ! Thanks for sharing this awesome photos !

Well done. You posted my favorites!
Never seen the curl snakes before, really nice.

Wow! I haven't got any words for it... Excelent snakes, excelent pictures, excelent nature... I totally envy you!

I think I am going to move to Australia for the rest of my live

Absolutely brilliant ! Splendid photography and awesome animals ! What wide-angle lens do you use ? Thank you very much for sharing...

Nice trip Graeme , I still can't handle the DOR melanocephalus , did you take the time to take any landscape photographs ?

Australia + stunning photography + amazing animals = AWESOME!
Thanks for sharing with us.

Cheers!

Andrew Hacket wrote:

Nice trip Graeme , I still can't handle the DOR melanocephalus , did you take the time to take any landscape photographs ?

Its a real shame as we found DOR Pythons, Dragons, Skinks and elapids.

I'll put up some separate landscapes for you later today.

TiberiuSahly wrote:

Australia + stunning photography + amazing animals = AWESOME!

Excellent mathematics

Fantastic photos! Those brown snake shots really are something else!

Super nice photos. very good work.
would be great shots for a calender, or so.

I agree, the brown snakes are stunning. Looks like you had a cracking time.

Well done, Mr. Skinner(!). Excellent photography work, as usual- especially the images of specimens in context with their natural habitat. Thank you for posting this. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

Great shots, Graeme! Where did you herp in North America?

Jon Davidson wrote:

Well done, Mr. Skinner(!). Excellent photography work, as usual- especially the images of specimens in context with their natural habitat. Thank you for posting this. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

Thanks Jon I appreciate your comments

Regards Graeme

Mike Spencer wrote:

Great shots, Graeme! Where did you herp in North America?

Mike

I've herped in Arkansas a few times along with Arizona and New Mexico, I'd love to do some more soon

Regards

Graeme

Great photos Graeme and sound like a fun trip you had down there .

I really enjoy reading about it and looking at spectacular photos of course...

Amazing pics, awesome snakes you found there! It was wonderfull trip as I see:) I have to visit Australia too in the future.