Photos of bugs and other things people might be phobic about

[Mycroft Vimes]

That Mexican Amberwing looks fantastic,would love to get that in my viewfinder.

Since then the girls are rather wary of dragonflies.

They really shouldn't be,if anything they are only after the gnats/mosquitos about to bite you!
From the description and your location i suspect it to be a Große Königslibelle (Anax imperator/Emperor).
And as it's designation Große(=great/big)already states it is big.
In our neck of the woods it is indeed one of the if not the biggest around(although 11cms seems to be the max. ).
The males are more blue,like this one :

The only other suspects for me would be a Southern Hawker/Blue Darner (Aeshna cyanea),just a bit smaller than the Emperor :

or a Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta),even a tiny bit smaller still,but much more prolific :
.
The weather is turning nasty here,so the dragon- and damselfly season has come to an end i highly suspect.
So i'll be turning more to the skies for the next months,for shots like this :

My first European Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus)...
Sweet!

[Broccolee]

I guess it was the first one!Maybe it sat in the woods hiding and gorging on giant gnats and grew to it´s abnormal size secretly,just to jump out on unsuspecting tourists and give them the fright of their lives.Hey,as long as it´s not a coala,eh?

Love that picture of the huge bird,I made one similar to that of a seagull once.I guess it´s luck if you get one like that without a huge blob of white obscuring half the picture!!

[Mycroft Vimes]

Might have been feeding at some toxic waste dump,in retrospect you were probably lucky to come away unscathed!

The bird is quite large,but the pic is also highly cropped,so i wasn't in danger of fertilisation thankfully.
Although i grant you,you are far more likely to be hit by Harrier-poo than blue ice :

[Who's Wee Dug]

Really goods ones of the Dragonflies.

[AuntyVague]

I almost missed those wonderful dragonfly photos! It is just coming in to the time of year that we get them here, so hopefully I will master my new camera and get at least one half decent photo on a dragonfly to share this year!

I disturbed this very sleepy critter by being rude enough to pick up the pot that it was snoozing under and start using it to plant something in. I didn't even know it was there until it started slowly making it's way across my potting bench like it was looking for it's first coffee of the morning. Lucky for me it wasn't wide awake or it might have shot up my arm!

[Catch-up]

Wow! He's a decent size, isn't he? Please tell me he's not poisonous.

[Bouncy Castle]

Christ on a Bike.

[Who's Wee Dug]

Was he wearing a helmet.

[Penfold]

Wow! He's a decent size, isn't he? Please tell me he's not poisonous.

Since it is an Australian spider, I would assume that it is both extremely poisonous and a man eating species as well.

[AuntyVague]

Wow! He's a decent size, isn't he? Please tell me he's not poisonous.

Since it is an Australian spider, I would assume that it is both extremely poisonous and a man eating species as well.

Believe it or not, this one (a hunstman) won't kill you (quite an un-Australian attitude I know!) While the Museum Victoria website states that symptoms are minor - just pain and swelling, I've never met anyone who has been bitten by one. They mainly just like to hang around a freak people out.

[cheery_j.]

I showed it to bf and remarked that we might not want to go to Auntralia after all. He wondered why and said "I'm sure he just wants to play".
I told him to keep that in mind when I wake him in the middle of the night to tell him to take the huge scary spider outside.

[Dotsie]

[chris.ph]

this is why ive never visited my families relations in oz

[AuntyVague]

Love the video Dotsie! Yep, they do love to appear from behind car visors Not sure that I'd try to catch one or let one run over my face though

I showed it to bf and remarked that we might not want to go to Auntralia after all. He wondered why and said "I'm sure he just wants to play".
I told him to keep that in mind when I wake him in the middle of the night to tell him to take the huge scary spider outside.

Just think of them as Australian squirrels. After all, they're big and furry and they scamper about really quickly. What more could you want

[eric]

I have..... spider crab. They're for people that either don't like spiders or people who don't like crabs. Kind of like having four legs in each camp.