"Jeannie" wrote in message
...
"Ben" wrote in message
...
Pulling down some old fence panels to replace them today, I
disturbed a
large number of insects with crab-like pincers on their rear end.
They
looked like scorpions, but I wasn't aware we had any in the UK.
What
could they have been?

I once found one of these creatures in my bath and hysterically rang
my mum
AND my dad and made them come to my house as I too thought I had
discovered
a scorpion. Much laughing at my expense ensued when they realised
that it
was in fact an earwig. I am blushing with the embarrassment of it
all just
typing this message.

When we went on mountaineering trips in South Africa, it was de rigeur
to shake out our boots every morning in order to expel any possible
scorpions which might have made themselves at home overnight.

Franz