Snakes and ladies

With the arrival of spring and warm weather, snakes are on the move and butterflies abound. This sleek Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) pictured at left in our garden seemed to us surprisingly well-fed for this time of year, so much so it could not fit through the chicken-wire fence around the vegie garden, despite several attempts. The wire mesh has openings of 3.5cm, which makes this quite a large snake!
 
 
 
One of the first butterflies to appear in spring is the Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi) pictured at right, which has taken a particular fancy to a Downy Zieria bush (Zieria cytisoides). For another impressive image of the lady go to the Strathbogie Ranges – Natureview website.
 
 
 
 
Other butterflies seen around and included in the slide show below are the Yellow Admiral (Vanessa itea) and the Cabbage White (Pieris rapae). The Imperial Jezebel (Delias harpalyce) was flying too high to photograph satisfactorily.
 

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