Summer Guardians

I know Summers here now. Tiny balls of newly hatched Garden Spiders are every where in my garden. They guard my trees throughout the Summer and Autumn Months, keeping bugs at bay. I like watching them grow, spinning their first webs and catching critters.

The only downside is walking into their webs in early Autumn

Hi Will great photos... yeh... I love these little beauties too... got 'em all over my garden and workshop too

Tony

Hello Tony. If you blow on them gently, they spread out like a mini firework. Then slowly return to their tight little ball. Amazing

Without wishing to trivialise, but not so good when you grab your Bermudas off the hook in the allotment shed for their 1st outing of the year and find that there's about 3 million crawling around your "nethers" from an unnoticed nest.



Good thing I'm not arachnophobic (my wife is terribly so) and a good thing I keep a spare pair of jeans in the shed as well.

Didn't tell the wife as I'd definitely be "off limits".

No amount of pursuading will convince her that Spiders are beneficial

They were still disappearing down the shower plug hole 4 hours later.

Sorry little spiders



Thks

timR

Hello Tim. Can't believe you leave clothes hanging in the shed. I came a cropper a few years back with a coat I had hung up to dry. Unfortunately a Hornet had taken it over without even asking. He stung me three times before I could give it back. It was two days and heavy doses of Histamine before I could bend my arm again. Good job it wasn't my Bermudas eh Take away the pain but leave the swelling

I get covered in those stringy webs every morning when I walk along the canal towpath on my way to work. Then I spend the rest of the day trying to pull the damn things off my head and out of my beard.

And as for having an arachnophobic wife, try this on for size, (and I apologise in advance for the mental imagery contained within); me, sound asleep, being kicked and punched awake by my screaming missus who has, somehow, seen a small spider creeping across our bedroom ceiling, despite it being as dark as the Devil's bum crack in there. The only way I can stop her screaming is to stand on the bed, bare arsed, and keep jumping up and down until I gain enough height to squash the critter with my slipper. Capture and release is not acceptable to her as 'It'll only come back in later." This happens several times a week at this time of year, and again later in the season when the little buggers are coming back in for the winter.

In her defence, we do have some astonishingly large spiders around here (for England, leastways). I caught one a couple of years ago that must have been at least 4" across the legs. I had to force it into a jam jar using a brush handle, the little sod kept gripping the edge of the glass. It was that big you could read it's tattoos!

Not going anywhere near this mother(mutha).!!

Aww, that's cute, she's protecting her egg case.

Kev Bailey wrote:Aww, that's cute, she's protecting her egg case.

Either that or some kind of Spider Space Hopper thing going on!

Hiya Will,

Great photo's - this is like the IBC version of 'Springwatch'

I've never seen anything like this in all the years I've been gardening. I notice plenty of webs and spiders, but have never seen this before.

Great stuff, keep the photo's coming - you never know, Kate Humble might be watching.

Kate Humble...... I may have to go and lie down

Nice pics Will!! The last one is a evocative one! I mean, you see a mother with her egg, in a protective posture,she's even missing a leg!! Make's you wonder what she's gone through,ya know? It's a masterpiece!!! hahaha!!

Hello Pola. I hadn't noticed the missing leg. Well spotted.

Missing two legs, if I'm not mistaken.

Oooooh, Kate Humble and Springwatch, thought that was my guilty secret!

Seriously though, post your pic here http://www.flickr.com/groups/bbcspringwatch/

I love spiders too :

On a Katsura maple leafing out :



On a tamarisk :



And this one that I took last year. I had photographed a wild orchid that grew spontaneously in my garden, and it's only when I looked at the photo on my computer that I noticed it :

Good pics Alain. I really like the Lizard Orchid. They do crop up in the UK occasionally but prefer a warmer climate.

All grown up and tucking into a tasty Cranefly. Keeps the Leatherjackets out of my pots.

Hi Will,great photo's you made with your new Canon-camera
Here a spider in my garden with a meal bigger than the spider is
Greetings Ed

I'm loving the new Canon Ed. Best decision I've made for a long time. Just need a few more lenses now.

It's unusual for an East Anglian to be missing anything. They've usually got an extra limb tucked away somewhere.

*Dons steel helmet and ducks down in his trench*

More of a Norfolk thing with the exra bits. The traditional greeting of the North folk is a high six.

Norfolk, East Anglia.....it's all the same to us in the outside world.