Is there a bar here?

[Columbusrat]

Hello Fat Albert!

Moxi, your black beauty is lovely. I'm hoping to see a stick insect 'in the wild' at some point - I know there's some in Cornwall.

[Moxi]

ooh I didn't know that, we go down to Cornwall a fair bit so I will pay more attention to the hedges when I am down there next, it would be excellent to find alternative species to our Indian and Black beauties.

I know there are scorpions to be found on the boundary wall at Southampton docs if you are ever around that area ?

They are easy to find if you go after dusk with a black light they will fluoresce a blue turquoise colour and stand out - I have a picture of my eldest lads Asian black somewhere that's illuminated by black light, I will find it and post it up for you.

Moxi

[Columbusrat]

Ooh, it'd be amazing to see a scorpion. I'm near to Poole, so not that far from Southampton. Though not sure I could justify a trip over there just to 'bag' another species for the spreadsheet.

[nowty]

Bagged mine crawling up a wall in my room in Laragne (French Alps) in 2005.

[Columbusrat]

Best I've managed is a Scorpion Fly. You can see where it gets its name from though:

[Moxi]

Best I've managed is a Scorpion Fly. You can see where it gets its name from though:

That’s a really nice photo, I’m just an iPhone snapper I’m afraid.

Moxi

[Columbusrat]

The annoying thing is that iPhones can often take better photos than I can with all my gear after much deliberation about aperture, ISO, focus stacking differentials etc.

[AE-NMidlands]

and once again, right on cue, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99nv1gz0rvo:

New scorpion wrangling club holds first meeting
Scorpions are believed to have lived in the long stretch of wall that borders Blue Town High Street for more than 200 years after they stowed away on a shipment of granite from Italy.
Jenny Hurkett, from the Blue Town Heritage Centre, formed the club after advertising for a chief scorpion wrangler due to the previous post holder retiring, and was bombarded with applicants of all ages.

"We make children aware of what we have in our dockyard wall and island," she said.
"We need to protect their natural habitat, but it's also a lot of fun when you actually see a scorpion because they shine up under UV lights that the children get in their membership packs."
...
Children receive training on how to protect the scorpions environment and collect free membership packs, which include an ultraviolet torch to make the scorpions glow in the dark and a membership card, in which they can keep a record of how many scorpions they find.
Outgoing scorpion wrangler, John Nurden, said he was happy to pass on the mantle to a younger team.
"It's a really quirky Sheppey tradition and it's always difficult to find a scorpion," he said. "It's just wonderful that so many people are now interested in looking after the colony."