Not so secret Valentine's Love Knot

Just coming back from locking the chooks in for the night, when in my torchlight I caught sight of a couple of lovers. Well it is Valentines Day and I guess being secretive they didn't expect to be caught out , but there they were out in the open having sex.

A pair of eastern Small-eyed snakes Cryptophis nigrescens mating just outside their hole in the rocks.

Small eyes watch the bite

Moving some matting that was on the ground to use in the garden I uncovered a small snake (about 50cm long) which twisted and turned and tried to look quite aggressive. My thought was that I had disturbed a small Red-bellied Black Snake but it did not react as I would have expected. I manage to get a photo ( although not too good) before it dashed for cover.

I thought to check the identification and after doing a few comparisons and reading descriptions I believe it was in fact an Eastern Small Eyed Snake Cryptophis nigrescens, which can be confused with a Red Belly but the slight variation in colour and the aggressive and thrashing movements agreed with the patterns noted for the Eastern Small Eyed Snake.
As the common name suggests they are found down the east of Australia and are mainly nocturnal hunters spending their days under bark, stones etc (matting). Even though they are a small snake they are in the dangerous category with at least one fatality attributed to a bite from one.