Exploring Nature's Gifts

For me, one of the absolute best parts of bonsai is making trips to various areas for a little natural inspiration. My good friend Ken and I got out this past weekend and visited an area about an hour north from where we live called Stumpy Pond. After a good 40 minute paddle we reached a section where the old river bottom is exposed. In this case, the stone is granite and it has been carved and shaped by who knows how many centuries of rushing water to create just an amazing sculptural garden.

Here is a video that captures some of the highlights.


John

Stunning, John. Great video - great music.

What was the snake?

You know Fiona I am not sure exactly what kind it was...we have several types of water snakes that live locally. I thought this might have been a brown water snake but after looking at pics I don't think it was. I do know that it was not a water moccasin or cottonmouth. Its pupils were round and not slit...around here that means they are not venomous. The snake was about a meter long and nearly as big around as a man's wrist.

Although I love being in nature, I am not a fan of snakes at all...prefer just to keep my distance...thank goodness for telephoto photography:)

John

I must admit, while I'm not phobic about them, I'm not a snake fan either.

A few years back we vacationed in the States and in Australia in consecutive years and were fully expecting to see all these terrible venomous snakes that we'd been so amply warned about. Yet - and here's one for fans of Irony - the only places I have actually seen a snake up close and personal in the wild (as opposed to zoos or animal sanctuaries) is on the island of Islay here in Scotland and on my sister's patio in the suburbs of Bristol.

That was quite enough for me though.

Howzit John,
Now that was cool!! Mahalo for sharing. I'm so glad that we don't have snakes in Hawaii. On Guam, that have brown tree snakes and every once and a while they would catch a ride on the plane to Oah'u. Thank God for snake snuffing dogs. They check the planes when they land.

-Tim

Hawaiian77 wrote: Thank God for snake snuffing dogs. They check the planes when they land.

Ha ha. Big brave dogs they have in Hawaii, Tim. The day we found the snake on my sister's patio, our big cissy of a Retriever hid behind the biggest patio plant container he could find and didn't come out until we'd chased the snake away.

LOL!!!!!!!!!! Hey, smart dog!! I would do the same thing too! The Dept. of Ag. uses beagles to snuff out unwanted contraband.

-Tim

Thanks to St Patrick, we don't have any snakes in Ireland

Beautiful! Nature is just amazing!! Can't wait to get a new camera to snap some pics of some very beautiful sights in the mountains where i live(in a rain forest). I've always wanted to organize a gallery locally,to show people how beautiful our part of earth is and why we should take care of it. Come on guys,snakes aren't that bad....


This is one of the boas i owned. I'm not allowed to have them where i live at now so i gave it and all my other snakes to a freind. I miss them!

John, your video was very enjoyable. I'd like to see that place sometime. However, it appears this thread has jumped topics and is now about snakes (and you should not feel bad about this because it may well end up being the most viewed thread you've ever started on this forum!)

Here's a healthy serpent I found while tending the garden, just a couple of hours ago:



Another view:



It was minding its own business, and if it was of a different species I would have left it be. However, copperheads and tourists are a bad combination, so it had to be relocated. Here it is in the bucket, about to go for a ride:

Snakes are cool

I've had many different reptiles and amphibians in my time, and various arachnids too, come to think of it. Unfortunately, my wife detests any animal that doesn't purr and leave hairs all over your black clothes, so I've bummed out.

My friend, Todge, has got Britain's largest privately owned Python, btw. Soggy is almost 20ft long now, and weighs about 12 stone. She's a big girl!

AJ wrote:John, your video was very enjoyable. I'd like to see that place sometime. However, it appears this thread has jumped topics and is now about snakes (and you should not feel bad about this because it may well end up being the most viewed thread you've ever started on this forum!)

I am now feeling sorry that I asked him the question about the snake in his video for the very reason you cite, AJ.

Please everybody - watch John's video. It's well worth it. As they always are.

However. AJ - how did you trap that snake and keep it as peaceful looking in that bucket as it seems to be? With no apparent lid. See, this is what I was promised on my trip to DC: lots of highly dangerous wildlife. Thwarted, I was! Prolly just as well I didn't encounter a copperhead though, as just one whiff of a photo of one on here and I'm singing Steve Earle songs.

I walk the arboretum trails every so often. I've seen 3 or 4 copperheads on the trails. Just give 'em a wide berth.

Lovely vid, John. I'm fairly snake aware, and don't recognize yours. The head should be distinctive, but I can't find my non-venomous-snake book. Must have loaned it out GRRRRRRR.

They must all have been on vacation when we were over. We were told to expect copperheads, something black that is venomous and another something black that isn't. When we were in Australia we were told that you were never further away than a metre from a snake at any point in time outdoors. We were also told just to assume everything even vaguely snakelike was venomous and, as Jim says, to give them a wide berth. The only snakes we saw were in Healesville animal sanctuary.


Now, I wonder where snakes'd go for their holidays?

Its amazing what one snake picture in two and half minutes of video can do. AJ...that is not the first snake picture you have posted if memory serves me. Jim...I hate them but I have seen and identified them all my life and this one was a little different. It was almost as if it were covered in the something because the body was just a muddy brown with no distinction that I could notice...perhaps it was getting ready to shed. I did notice the coloration around the edge of the mouth...it certainly reminded me of most typical water snakes.

Thanks for the comments guys and gal!

John