Spiders, etc.…

I’ve beenwaiting for the opportunity to invite friends & family to come and stay at the house. But I’ve now realised that even when (when??) it’s done, there will still be some people who we won’t be able to invite… My English neighbour for one: she doesn’t like spiders AT ALL (when she looks after the plants for me whilst we are away, I go round and evict all the spiders I can find; I don’t mind them, so they are normally allowed run on the flat). So she would hate the denizens of our new home.

I woke up on the first night we stayed there this year to a huge chap on the wall about 3’ away. I saw him (her?) again later & measured - >4”/10cm and it wasn’t lying flat out!

We’ve also got huge black beetles (1” long) and crickets (male & female, I think – one’s bigger and lighter in colour than the other), and the occasional lizard. And that’s just indoors! If we factor in the birds (owls & swallows occasionally - I had to keep chasing them out in June; didn't want them nesting like the redstart...) and the odd bat, not to mention the rodents (can hear & smell them, so I know they’re there!)… Feels a bit like a menagerie.

When we go outdoors there’s all sorts of interesting fauna, including my current favourite: the huge black bee with blue wings. I also like the red & black bugs: striped (like a shield bug) & patterned (“gendarmes”) – but you only seem to find the adults copulating; so difficult to get a “decent” picture!