Just behind where we’re camped happens to be a pending lease area with some interesting geology, so I decided to head out and have a swing for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the morning turned into a collection exercise for lead shot and bits of rusting tin rather than treasure.
As I was walking back to the car, I was only a couple of feet away from stepping on one of these.
A ringed brown snake (Pseudonaja modesta). Not exactly the sort of find I’d been hoping for. This species is a venomous elapid native to inland Australia and is found across a broad stretch of the country, from western New South Wales and Queensland through to Western Australia.
Suddenly the rusty tin and lead shot didn’t seem quite so disappointing.