Author Gary Taylor ◦
It’s hard to pick a favourite when it comes to gum trees but for me the Illyarrie, or red capped gum (E. erythrocorys) is high up on the list. And not just for it’s stunning visual display, it’s a also a favourite for our gorgeous native bees (another passion of mine). Here in Midwest WA they’re one of the most popular trees planted by the local council in public areas and on the wider roadside verges and I’m often seen parked up taking pictures… But this particular one is on my property so thankfully nobody saw what happened… 😄
Ok, so backing up a little, as I’m sure most of you are aware, macro photography requires getting in amongst and close to nature, and having all sorts of stingy and bitey things crawl on you or buzz around your face is just part of it.
The following pic, one of the Coastal Moorts (E. platypus) that I like to stop by is a good example of wasps liking flowers. But they’re not out to get you and if you just stay calm most things will leave you alone…
Anyway, I was tucked right in amongst the thick vegetation of a low branch on my Illyarrie, trying to get some pics of one of our leaf cutter bees, Megachile chrysopyga (the pic at the top) when a huge black wasp (like the one in the following pic, Pompilidae Pepsis, known as the Tarantula Hawk) came flying in over my shoulder sounding like an old B52 bomber and making the hair on my neck shake with the wind it was generating. It landed in the tree a couple of feet off to my left and began strutting aggressively about the leaves, looking to pick a fight to the death with a spider as big or bigger than herself to feed her children.
Now I’m not particularly bothered by it but I gotta admit I’m highly aware of it’s presence… I had one take a disliking to me trying to photograph it digging it’s burrow once before… she well and truly saw me off the premises… Haha in the words of Charlie Daniels she had me “steppin’ and fetchin’ like my head was on fire and my ass was cetchin'” 😆 But it’s all good, leave her alone and she’ll be fine…
I go back to trying to get a few bee pics… Then, as I raise the camera up, I feel something big land right on my collar… oh you’re joking… just ignore it, she’ll go away… I kinda freeze a little and lower the camera a tad… arrrgh I can feel it’s hard bristly body brushing against my neck as it starts crawling down my collar towards the open top of my shirt… If this thing goes down the inside of my shirt and panics I’m gonna be in a world of pain…
I have no option, I slowly and carefully take my left hand off the camera and then in one sudden lightning fast action I grab it and throw it as fast, hard and far away as I can… Damn near broke my neck, turns out it was just my camera strap 🤣🤣🤣
Taken from Gary’s post on Facebook… the following is a wonderful up close banter with the author…
What a corker story!!!
Cheers! Haha love the Aussie lingo term “corker”
Source: Gary Taylor, Bee Aware of Your Native Bees (Australia) – FacebookIt’s a word I’ve used since the ’70’s…
Dunno for sure but I think it came from back when the best cricket balls were solid cork inside the leather outer layer… It’s a corker… Gave rise to the joke “If you’ve got a moth ball in this hand, and a moth ball in that hand, what have you got? A bloody big moth!!”
