Mornington Peninsula Herping

Here are some pics from the past week i took down at the Mornington Peninsula, which is about an hour south east of Melbourne.
I had afew species in mind, including the metallic skink, swamp skink and white lipped snake.
I had photographed swamp skinks and seen white lips before, but mettalics would be a new species for me.
First spot i checked out was a degraded swamp that was sitting next to a large dump.
Luckily for me the first lizards I found where my target species, hurrah!

Metallic cool-skink (Niveoscincus metallicus) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
10 minutes later I found this gross looking tiger under a large hessian sack, obviously coming up for a shed.

Tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) by Nick Gale, on Flickr

Tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
At a different place Three Lined Skinks where extremely common, and also quite gross looking. Their shiny scales and lack of sun at the time of me photographing this guy made it hard to get lighting right.

Eastern three-lined skink (Acritoscincus duperreyi) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
In the same couple of minutes I missed both a Swamp Skink and a white lipped snake, and I didnt manage to see any others for the rest of the week due to the weather conditions being wrong. However ill upload a photo of one I got the same time last year.

Swamp Skink (Lissolepis coventryi) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
There are a small amount of records of the Common Scaly Foot being present around several bay beaches on the peninsula, unfortunately I only managed to run into some drunk people... Beach looked pretty cool though!

Rocky Beach by Nick Gale, on Flickr
We where staying next to a golf course, and there were many warning signs around...

'Snake Habitat' by Nick Gale, on Flickr
There where no snakes around this so called 'snake habitat', However I do remember as a younger kid seeing a swamp skink basking on the ground near the reeds, ans thinking it was a water skink!
I had a short walk, and found this mangy creature

Blotched blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua nigrolutea) by Nick Gale, on Flickr

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I will upload the rest of the photos later, having trouble uploading them,
cheers.

Old clothes or new I always appreciate a Tiger snake.

Whats the plan for the holidays Nick? Heading off somewhere?

Wally said:

Old clothes or new I always appreciate a Tiger snake.

Whats the plan for the holidays Nick? Heading off somewhere?

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heading up to Pambula beach in NSW in mid Jan, might go on some smaller day trips before that

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More pics:-
On exploring an old farm site I came across what looked like an underground storage tank, and as it was open topped, I found a very battle scarred eastern bluey sitting in it. expecting it to be dead, i gave it a prod with a stick and it gave a loud hiss!
The tank was about 6 feet deep, luckily I am just tall enough to grab the bluey, and scramble out without much difficulty.
after a photoshoot and a drink of water the lizard went on his/her way.
Eastern blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua scincoides) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Swamp Shack by Nick Gale, on Flickr
The national park @ main ridge was rather poor with reptile life, with only small skinks appearing to be abundant.
Highlands forest-skink (Anepischetosia maccoyi) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Weasel skink (Saproscincus mustelinus) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Another blotchy from the area where I found the eastern bluey, Tootgarook swamp is one of the few areas where these guys appear to coexist.
Blotched blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua nigrolutea) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
One of the last places I was keen to check out was a cool area near Flinders on the south coast. The habitat there was well suited for white lips and many vulnerable small skink species, however during the heat of the day not much was to be found... so it was a nice suprise to bee quite afew of these whites skinks cruising around in the cliff vegetation!
Whites Skink (Liopholis whitii) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Thats the last of the photos,
Enjoy

Looks Awesome the peninsula is bluetongue central

Lucky as always Nick. Your herping spots have always made me jealous. COntinue the great work!

Very nice, the Eastern had a nice red colour on him!

Nice pics. Great part of the country

Cheers guys!

Herpo said:

Lucky as always Nick. Your herping spots have always made me jealous. COntinue the great work!

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It's just about knowing what conditions are favourable aswell as what spots are good, and also lots of fast reflexes!