please keep it safe

a gentle giant trying to catch some z's on the garden bed last year. she's an Australian 'Hornet' (not a true hornet), and is the largest species of wasp in the country, with a 30mm body length!

it was fascinating to watch her, at first I thought she was injured or dying, as I've never witnessed a wasp sleeping like this before. every now and then a little ant would come along and disturb her, so she'd get up, walk around and find her comfy spot again, and lay back down.

Potter Wasps work so hard, flying back and forth all day with mud and provisions to build nests for their babies. it's nice to know they stop to relax sometimes too.

Skin-piercing blood-sucking moths V: Attacks on man by 5 Calyptra spp. (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) in S and SE Asia

In a chronology of 11 cases, male adults of scarce C. bicolor, C. fasciata, C. ophideroides, C. parva and C. pseudobicolor are proved for the first time to attack man (the author) and pierce the skin to suck blood under natural conditions in the field. […]

Carnelian crocodile pendant, Egypt, 20th-18th century BC

Wood engravings by Colin See-Paynton. ~ "Loons" ~ "Puffins" ~ "Tiding of Magpies"

Artist from Berriew, Powys, Wales. Born 1946.

Study with Sandro Botticelli and "What's it like working at Lush"