You encountered "aodaisho", the Japanese rat snake, right?
One morning I opened my door and nearly stepped on an aodaisho lounging on the front steps. It hung about and checked me out! They're vermin eaters, so farmers welcome them. I wonder if that's why they're not afraid of people.
Yes, I'm pretty sure that's what they were. They weren't aggressive, just slow to move away. I imagine they're pretty useful around farms, and a long period of growing up alongside farms and farmers has maybe made them less scared of people.
The Kinki Nature Trails are part of a network that covers the whole of Japan. That particular trail runs from east to west across Hyogo prefecture, parts of it go across mountain trails and are well signposted, and there are connecting parts across villages and fields that aren't well signposted. From east to west across Hyogo is about 150km.
You encountered "aodaisho", the Japanese rat snake, right?
One morning I opened my door and nearly stepped on an aodaisho lounging on the front steps. It hung about and checked me out! They're vermin eaters, so farmers welcome them. I wonder if that's why they're not afraid of people.
Yes, I'm pretty sure that's what they were. They weren't aggressive, just slow to move away. I imagine they're pretty useful around farms, and a long period of growing up alongside farms and farmers has maybe made them less scared of people.
Beautiful photos. That's a trail I'd loke to try myself. How long is it?
The Kinki Nature Trails are part of a network that covers the whole of Japan. That particular trail runs from east to west across Hyogo prefecture, parts of it go across mountain trails and are well signposted, and there are connecting parts across villages and fields that aren't well signposted. From east to west across Hyogo is about 150km.
Map link here:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=102r2NY8JuwMub8OMr5vAX7qZx5Zl7fji&ll=34.900652175588476%2C134.41476673761207&z=15
The "filth" refers to the "smut" in smut grass and "bastard" in bastard indigo, I wasn't expecting plant names to be quite so rude!