SINCE I was a child, hollows in tree trunks have always fascinated me.

Seeing the film Flash Gordon might have had something to do with this.

Peering into one makes you feel like you are entering into a mysterious and fantastical world, and with Flash as a guide for the imagination, who knows what nameless terrors might lurk inside.

Over the years this minor phobia led to a fascination.

I am still shy of plunging my arm in to a place I cannot see, though this is more to do with what some thoughtless person may have put there than from fear of being stung or bitten by some strange monster.

My interest has led me to some wonderful wildlife encounters, from huge and amazing beetle lava to a variety of young birds.

I've also had a few shocks over the years. On one occasion peering into the gloom I could see movement at the back.

So squeezing my eye as close up as possible to the opening for a better look (it took a few moments for my eye to adjust to the gloom), I realised I was looking at a small hornets nest.

I had a similar experience with a wasp's nest too, but none of this was to prepare me for the trauma of my encounter in a tree hollow at Habberley Valley the other day.

At first, the hollow looked a little dull so I poked around in the wood dust often found on the floor, when something bit or stung my finger.

My hand shot out and attached to it was a large black bug. I desperately fought the instinct to squash or flick this creature away in the name of curiosity.

I did pick it off my finger though as quickly as possible with my other hand and it then let out another loud shriek.

It turned out to be a large assassin bug known as a masked assassin bug. They are renowned for biting or should I say stabbing humans, as they have a sharp tube for mouth parts. They don't feed on human blood like some of their more exotic cousins, but stab out in self-defence.

As for the chilling noise, this is a defence mechanism and it certainly worked!