Things I Find at Work Pt. 3 Nature Addition!

Today I have been Gardening and so we have nature making an appearance :D YAY! My favourite :D
My first Find was this chappy,

and would you believe it? another bloody Toad! 22 years its taken me to see an example of Bufo bufo and in the space of a month I find 2! And s/he's Miniature! Really laid back just chilled out on my hand whilst i took a picture:D AWESOME!

Next on my list is this Badman Magpie checking out his reflection in car windows...

he was making the most awsfull racket ever, and i managed to sneak a little closer

I find magpies get a bad press (my mum despises the things - especially the bald one in the garden, despite me trying to convince her its a monk), I on the other hand admire Corvid's(magpies, crows, ravens ect) despite the plural for crows being a 'murder of crows', I admire their intellect, and the amazing self awareness they (can) exhibit, despite the lack of cortical structures within the brain (these are linked with self awareness and Theory of mind in mammals). I would totally own a Corvid.

Now for some invert's (Yes)

Found these guys when i was digging up the flower beds, they are without a shadow of a doubt beetle larvae but i have no idea what species at all, my first thought was some sort of chafer beetle (think may bugs) but the colouring just isn't right (chafers have white bodies and orange heads) they look nice tho :D

The last think i found was that nature is stronger than metal after hitting a tree root...

 I was down a Tool... well thats it for today :D

More things out to get me...

First the sewing Machine, then i saw this little lady bopping along the floor...

and i thought... that looks a bit Widowy to me, had a further little peek...

im pretty darn sure this is a false widow, Im not a massive spider boff (mantids are my forte) but i have an intermediate knowledge of them and have a rough idea of types.
So had a little gander on the web to see if there were any other species that looked similar. I at this point say that false widow spiders are Britains most venomous spider although there are 3 species that look very similar with only 1 being any threat.
 Steatoda nobilis is the nasty one that is to have reportedly of originated from the canary islands, and has been cotching down south (like the stick insects) for around 100 of years now, but due to warmer summers they have come alot more south and people have started running around screaming and making babies cry and the tabloids to go mental (as per usual) 

"False widow spider bite reports include symptoms such as chest pains, swelling and tingling of fingers."

This one however seems to be a similar species called Steatoda grossa judging by the semi circle abdominal markings, so my slight alarm as it ran under the sofa was in vain *phew*

"Their bites are known to cause pain and discomfort for a small portion of the population, however for most people, their bite produces no side effects"

so its only an issue if you are allegic, to be fair, even if you are bitten by a real widow (Latrodectus sp.) even untreated you still only have a 1 in 8 chance of dying unless you are old or really small

in other news, the post man came and delivered this...

Oh yes! 16 Kg of dead chicks my mum ordered for the harris hawk, in the freezer. That goes next to his dead rabbits, the bread rolls and ready meals. a popular game in my house is making unsuspecting guests get things from the death freezer-thats always guarented a laugh! although to be fair the first time i saw the rabbit foot poking out of the freezer as i rummaged for some burgers, i thought a cat had fallen in and died (its a massive chest freezer-no mammory jokes please:D ) and THAT scared the bloody shit out of me.
Its weird really i can deal with a box of hundreds of dead chicks, but not a frozen cat. Figures

Sources: greennature and Natural History Museum

The Second Surprise of the Day

This came home with my darling mother...
she gets massive brownie points

I love how terrified he looks 'AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH'
aparently mum went to a conference meeting thing and they all had one of these to eat, when i run a business these will be served at meetings!