What’s that ugly creature?

Oh it's me. But ignore me and look at that beautiful spider!

I've been wanting to hold a tarantula for ages and today I finally got my chance, at the Highland Reptile Rescue Centre in Milton, near Invergordon.

At first I was scared of the hairy little critter but I decided to just get on with it and told the owner to put it on my arm. No problem…

Then I held it in my hands. No problem…

And within about 5 minutes, any sense of fear was gone and I would have been happy to let it crawl up my arm. But it didn't want to.

Another personal goal ticked off the list thanks to this wonderful job! And thanks to Maggie at the rescue centre for taking the photos for me.