Yikes

Whilst I'm remarkably good in a crisis, just the person you need when the proverbial hits the rotary air moving device etc etc... I've always been quite jumpy. Sneaking up on me and yelling "boo" could be an involuntary trip to A&E, whatever you do don't tap me on the back if I've got headphones on. I blame it on a bad childhood, but it's not something I've ever managed to conquer.

Sooooo when this inch long beastie landed on me today I was (a) glad no-one heard my linguistic choices & (b) kinda amazed I managed to stay still and then tease it onto a twig.

Fortunately I knew it wasn't a hornet or worse. I'd call it a sawfly but another common name for it is a Giant Wood Wasp. The large 'sting' identifies it as a female as this is actually her ovipositor which she uses to lay her eggs. As they like t lay their eggs in pine type woods I carefully transported her as far away from my larch pile as possible!

Extra
Sorry if anyone is bored by the Shepherds Hut, but I've realised over the years that I should record more projects like this.
A slight concern after the overnight rain when the stainless steel (a2) screw cups appeared to bleed a little into the wood (I'm using ridiculously expensive stainless materials to avoid exactly this), so I've not put them on today's work till I can speak to the supplier. Hopefully it's a minor thing, but it seemed daft to carry on using them till I know for sure.