[bloodhound31]

Cut down a very big, ugly, dead and dangerous Eucalypt this week in a park behind a local school.

When the tree hit the ground the resulting crunch was so loud it surprised even me. Don't know why I chose that particular day to bring my macro-rig to work with me, but I'm glad I did. The whole tree literally erupted with life. Spiders of all shapes and sizes including a stack of very large and hairy huntsmans. I grabbed a couple of the bigger girls and placed them back on the bark for some photos.

1. This one took a little while to settle down after sitting on my hand, but persistence paid off.

2. Then I came across this inch-long jumping spider, a little hairier than most around my house but still lots of fun and filled with the usual cheeky character.

3. The next one I played with on my finger for a while before settling it back down on the bark. I did hear afterwards that these ones can bite quite hard, but ignorance is bliss. Not sending off fear pheromones probably helped me there.....

4&5. Crawling all over the shattered wood and waaay too early for spring were all these beautiful harlequin bugs.

6. About 6 times the size of a ladybeetle, this one looked dead for a bit. I gave it a shove and it moved so I took the shot.

7. Meanwhile, in the land of the living trees overlooking our destruction, this little fellow kept an eye on us.