Too close for comfort?

It was a very autumnal sort of day (one day early) - quite cold, windy, not wet, but it has rained enough in the last couple of days that I can just about see the grass growing if I stand still for a few minutes. Time to get the lawn mower out again.

A stroll around the garden revealed that everyone was hiding from the biting cold wind (OK, it got to 20º - a pleasant summers day in the UK, but that seemed cold after the weeks of 30º+ days we've been having). Then I spotted this bull ant sitting on a leaf in a bush (odd place to find a bull ant), just walking backwards and forwards on the leaf and as I have NEVER blipped an ant, I really had to blip this one. It was about 2cm long, so big enough to look mean and menacing, but not the biggest bull ant you might find in Australia.

Those nasty looking mandibles will give you a nasty bite and then it will sting you with its other end - which can be fatal if you are unlucky enough to have an allergic reaction to the venom. I have been stung and it is quite painful for a while. Once a friends daughter was playing with my children in the garden and she somehow got a bull ant in her trousers and her leg was covered in stings - she was howling in pain, but recovered.

All the better to bite you with

But I almost didn't blip this, as I found a male blue banded bee in my rosemary (they really love the blue flowers) and got a few OK shots of it. Then it had a power nap! It landed nearby on an iris leaf, waggled its behind around a bit, then fell asleep! I could only tell it was asleep (no eyelids!) because I was able to hold onto the leaf (it was windy and moving a lot) and the bee didn't move at all. An awake bee would never tolerate my hand so close to it, I don't think. A couple of shots in blipfolio here, if anyone loves BBBees as much as I do. Then click to the right to see the other two.