# Herping near Newcastle



## GeckPhotographer (Mar 20, 2012)

So the Watagan Mountains is sorta my backyard (pretty much literally) and over the past couple weekends I've taken a good look at my backyard and what's in it, turns out some pretty cool stuff. Due to the reasons behind the look I didn't have time to photograph everything just the ones I see less often. Oh well that usually ends up being the cool stuff anyway right?

Sorry that my skink pictures are still really really bad, any advice on improving them appreciated.

So we'll start from my high and work our way down to what you don't want to get bitten by.

This Eastern Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus vittatus) was nice but on the second of the two trips I found just about the prettiest one ever and didn't have time to take pictures of it (mostly due to rain) .



Diplodactylus vittatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Diplodactylus vittatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Diplodactylus vittatus  by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Diplodactylus vittatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Well less than an hour from my house apparently I can still find species I hadn't seen before. Who knew? This brings my list to 166 reptiles. This is a tiny tiny skink commonly called the Iridescent Litter Skink (Lygisaurus foliorum) as most skinks are it doesn't like posing.



Lygisaurus foliorum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Lygisaurus foliorum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Lygisaurus foliorum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Lygisaurus foliorum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And from a species I hadn't seen to one I just hadn't photographed, but really really wanted to. Bibron's Toadlets (Pseudophryne bibroni) are one of the closer relatives to Corroboree Frogs, but luckily for them much more common. Was lucky that I got to find one walking about the forest floor cause digging them up is usually a pain. 



Pseudophryne bibroni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Pseudophryne bibroni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Pseudophryne bibroni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And we mayaswell stick with frogs two species very similar Dusky Toadlet (Uperoleia fusca) and Smooth Toadlet (Uperoleia laevigata).



Uperoleia fusca by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Uperoleia fusca by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Uperoleia laevigata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Uperoleia laevigata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Another very common frog I'd just never bothered to photograph but was around in one of those rare periods where I had time. The Common Eastern Froglet (Crinia signifera)



Crinia signifera by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

This was one of the nicest Mountain Heath Dragons (Rankinia diemensis) I've seen in a while, in real life the black 'bars/strips" on its side weren't visible but I actually think their contrast makes it look nicer.



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
This one wasn't so red but was still pretty damn nice



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Rankinia diemensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And so we have worked our way down to the lucky last, that which can kill you. A nicely red coloured Common Death Adder, would be the answer that a friend with me got so very excited about. This reminds me, I should buy a longer lens.



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

All the cool dawgs are doing deze sweat shotz, thinkz me be cool and do em to. 



Acanthophis antarcticus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to play the free mini-game included in this post, all you need to do is click the like button to win.


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## JackTheHerper (Mar 20, 2012)

I'll give you a like, just for the time it took


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## SamNabz (Mar 20, 2012)

Very nice Shteeb!!


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## apprenticegnome (Mar 20, 2012)

I didn't realise how much is in the Watagans that I haven't seen. Give us a call next time your going.


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## richoman_3 (Mar 20, 2012)

apprenticegnome said:


> I didn't realise how much is in the Watagans that I haven't seen. Give us a call next time your going.



yeah he will next time he goes to water his garden


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## GeckPhotographer (Mar 21, 2012)

Hehe thanks guys. 



> I didn't realise how much is in the Watagans that I haven't seen. Give us a call next time your going.


Yeah it has a lot more stuff then people realise, hey I didn't realise that skink was there. I don't exactly like taking people to my spots though.


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## Webless (Mar 21, 2012)

Hey Geck  Nice shots mate! Love the adder shots and the rankis


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## saratoga (Mar 21, 2012)

GeckPhotographer said:


> So we'll start from my high and work our way down to what you don't want to get bitten by.



lol

Great shots Stephen and that includes the skinks, nothing wrong with them.

Looks like a pretty decent sized adder. Did you find it furing the day or at night?


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## GeckPhotographer (Mar 21, 2012)

The Death Adder was found in the day, weirdly just chilling out in the open.


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## Sock Puppet (Mar 21, 2012)

Nice pics. I was up that way in Feb, but it hammered down rain for nearly the entire stay, so I only had a quick herp on the first arvo & night I was up there. 

Plenty of lacies around in the daytime. Unfortunately due to the evening getting cool very quickly, little was out at night, although I did find a pretty, but cranky little diamond. 

A very brief visit to the dam but couldn't hear any frogs calling, let alone find them. Found the ever present marsh frogs, & C. signifera etc in other spots. 

Definitely want to get back up there at some stage, hopefully when the weather does what it's supposed to in summer. Also hopefully with a 4WD, there was no way the Falcon was going over those tracks once the rain came in.


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## vicherps (Mar 21, 2012)

very good shots Stephen maybe u could take me out there when I head out that way.


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