Ross Bennett, another snake expert about town, recalls his first visit to Rowes Lagoon back in 1975. And for good reason. "I literally stumbled across a very dense population there, 20 snakes in 22 minutes!" he exclaims. Since then, Ross has walked the 3km lagoon edge multiple times each year and reports that "numbers have risen and fallen but now appear to be increasing after a drought-induced significant reduction." Encouraging news indeed.

Meanwhile, Judy Kenny of Melba whose great-great-grandfather Francis Kenny settled at Lake George in 1824, recalls the day she eye-balled a tiger snake at the lake. "On one of my early visits to the ruins at Kenny's Point (northern end of lake) with my brother and his son, we were standing in the open area near some ruins when my nephew commented, 'Dad, I'm pretty sure this is tiger country.' Right on cue, at about our eye level, a large adult tiger snake exited from a crack between two of the stone 'bricks', slowly and purposefully made its dignified way across the width of the wall and disappeared into its abode via another small opening in the bricks.

"It was such a mesmerising experience that alas we did not even think of a photograph. I wish we had. To be able to view a snake at eye level must be a reasonably rare event."

Doug Wyllie reports that a few years back he was witness to a charity run around the lake. "A group of us walked down to the fence to cheer on the runners and five snakes raised their heads out of the grass in very quick succession," he reports.

The January article also sparked considerable correspondence surrounding the veracity of historical reports of farmers and snake hunters killing tiger snakes en masse and hanging them over fences as 'trophy' kills.

However, several readers were able to verify this historical custom, some anecdotally and others with photographs. "In the 1970s, there was often a line of dead snakes strung by farmers over fences on the Lake George Road, on the north-eastern side of the lake," reports Kurt Sedlmaier, now of Nimmitabel (where despite its lofty altitude, he recently encountered a tiger). ''Back then I knew it was wrong, but you drove past fences like this a lot."

Stringer Browne also confirms the outdated ritual. He reports his father and grandfather used to work as roustabouts around the lake in early 1950 clearing tussocks with a hook blade hoe. "Dad told me every second tussock had at least one tiger snake hiding in it. At the end of the day they would hang the snakes over the fence adjacent to the highway."

However, without doubt, the majority of correspondence about tiger snakes echoed the sentiments of Robbie Wallace of Bywong. "While they might be scarce on the lakebed itself, overall I wouldn't be too worried about the plight of tigers in the area," he reports, adding "the paddocks on the Bungendore side of the lake are 'swarming' with them, especially along Joe Rocks Road".

The article also flushed out some unexpected encounters with tigers. John Maclean of Forrest especially recalls driving from Canberra to Sydney in 1969 and stopping to pick up a hitchhiker on the side of the Federal Highway near Lake George.

"He was carrying a backpack and one of those cheap-looking purple Qantas handbags," he recalls. "Turned out he was a youngish sunburnt Pom."

When the two got talking the hitchhiker revealed to John that he caught and sold tiger snakes to a research group at Sydney University which used them to produce anti-venom.

"I asked him if he had ever been bitten and he said yes and showed me a very ugly red blotch on his forearm," says John. "He then said the heart-stopping words: 'I have three snakes for the university in this bag', which was between his feet.

"I didn't place a lot of trust in the Pommy snake catcher or his flimsy Qantas bag, and started driving very sedately ... it was a very long four-hour drive to Sydney."

John says he hasn't picked up many hitchhikers since. I'm not surprised.

Still on snakes, CSIRO Publishing recently published photographs on their Instagram account of two wildlife ecologists 'planking' with pythons in northern NSW. Planking is of course that fad that began a few years ago whereby a person lies completely flat across pretty much anything and takes a selfie to upload on social media.

"This is me and my colleague Brendan Taylor python planking. Yes, all snakes are alive," wrote Ross Goldingay in the unexpected post, the pair having encountered the harmless pythons while undertaking spotlighting surveys for yellow-bellied gliders and potoroos in Richmond Range National Park.

The folk at CSIRO Publishing were quick to caution they "don't recommend python planking". They did, however, recommend checking out Australian Mammalogy's first online (after almost 50 years in print) issue featuring papers selected by members of the Australian Mammals Society. "The issue highlights the many ways that our contributors work at the forefront of major environmental issues, including feral mammals, threatened species distribution and conservation, and mammalian responses to fire".

I had a quick flick through the online journal but couldn't find any papers on 'python planking'. Not yet anyway.

More stories about marginalia, dedications and unusual objects found in second-hand books continue to lob into my inbox.

Russell Wenholz of Holt reports a tale of disappointment surrounding The Guest Years of My Life (1960), an autobiographical novel about the trials and tribulations of running a country pub at Talbingo in the Snowy Mountains, penned by his uncle Clive Morse.

"In 1979 my uncle financed a reprint," reports Russell, adding, "he officially dedicated it to his wife Norma and a good Talbingo friend of long standing, Gus Dignam, whose painting of the Talbingo Hotel appears on the front cover of the book."

At regular Lifeline Bookfairs, Russell keeps an eye out for any copies of his uncle's book, and snaps up any he spots.

"One year I found one of the of the reprints and when I opened it up on the front page, there in my well-known uncle's handwriting was written "To Gus, hoping you enjoy it the second-time around," reports Russell.

"What a terrible way to treat a 'special' edition, to discard it from the family," laments Russell. "If I ever meets any of Gus' descendants I'll 'give them a piece of my mind','' he declares.

Meanwhile, Kim Bal-Al of Calwell reports that inside the cover of a second-hand book of poetry she bought at a Lifeline Bookfair a few years ago was scrawled "the address of a beach house down the coast at Congo that I used to visit 25 years ago." Spooky.

However, regular reader of these pages, 'Dvixen', wins the gong for the most unusual items found in one second-hand book. In her copy of Book of Common Prayer, together with The Psalms of David (translated into Gaelic by Patrick Stewart, Edinburgh, 1794), bought at a bookstore in Canada in 1992, she found a spider, a leaf, a clover and a flower. Heck, that's almost enough to start a museum of natural history.

Clue: Not quite the ark, but close to a church.

Degree of difficulty: Hard

Last week: Congratulations to Tony Barbara of Queanbeyan who correctly identified last week's photo as a model horse and cart located at the entrance to a property near Prospect Hill on the eastern side of the Monaro Highway near Colinton. Tony just beat Peter Harris of Latham, Leigh Palmer of Isaacs and John Solari to the prize.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday February 6, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Clyde curiosity

Several readers, including Dave Gray, have noticed a trio of rocking horses balancing on a log on the side of the Kings Highway, about 19km west of Batemans Bay. Cassandra Smith reports "we first spotted them a few months ago when there was just one, then there was two but now there are three! Not sure who put them there and why." Someone must know.

Hill humour

If, like your akubra-clad columnist, your New Year's resolution was to exercise more, then a big thumbs-up for making it through to February. If you're looking for added encouragement when running near Mt Amungula in Kowen Forest, this sign, spotted by Rachael Coghlan, should give you a lift (and a laugh).

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick