Worm farm intruder.

We have had some seriously hot days recently so when today turned out to be a slightly cooler 32°c (90°F) we were not the only ones relieved. I didn’t spend too much time outside but still managed to find quite a few insects out and about, probably making up for lost time.

When I went to put some tea leaves in the worm farm this morning I lifted the lid to find this dotty beetle totally startled by the sudden light.

I helped him out with a stick and then called out the kids to have a look. (There is no way that any critter is allowed to be released into the wild without everyone getting a look at it.)

I am not sure how he made it in there, I guess he must have been hiding in some leaf litter I put in there a few days ago. He would have had a nice time in there, it is cool and damp, so I think he might be cursing me for evicting him!

Number 1 helpfully held the stick for me while I got my camera and I managed to get a few shots off before he flew off to his new life without his wormy friends.

Worm farm intruder.

Redbacks.

     We are suffering from a Redback spider infestation at the moment. I first noticed them last year, we had been on holiday and my car was left sitting for a few weeks. I came back to find that they had moved into the engine bay and made topping up the water in my windscreen squirter a potentially dangerous exercise. Fortunately they are not really an inside kind of spider and seem to prefer the outside world so I have no fear of them dropping out from the visor onto my lap while I am driving. The problem is that I have a constant (yet unfounded) suspicion they are colonizing the air vents. I see myself turning the fan on to de-fog the windscreen one morning and being blasted by a  family of sleepy and annoyed poisonous spiders.

     They seem to have moved in under our camper trailer too. We have opened it and checked inside and it seems to be visitor-free. After the liberal coating of surface spray today I think the underside should soon be spider free too.

     The other place I have noticed them is in the worm farm. The fact that they are in there amazes me. The worms can’t get out but the spiders can get in. Whenever I lift the lid to feed the worms there are always a few under the lid and no matter how many times I clean them out they are always back within a few weeks. How they get there I do not know as there is no gap for something of their size to sneak in. I really think inside the plastic barrel of a worm farm is a bit of a stupid place for a spider to live. It only has tiny air holes in the top so they are not going to be too well fed on visiting flies and it’s not like the worms are going to launch themselves into the web. Maybe they just get bored and eat each other!

     I have to apologize for the quality of photo on this post. Normally my spider photos are much better but I just couldn’t bring myself to get any closer to such an impressive specimen that had already killed something so many times bigger than itself once that day. Here is a much less scary spider to make up for it.