Growing garden spiders

Some of the garden spiders are starting to reach good sizes. As soon as they become apparent I realise it's well into summer, and that despite the dismal weather spiders haven't stopped feeding and growing. This one is probably not quite yet mature, but it is likely to be a female.

A spider safari

Today for 30 days wild we did a spider safari. Any day is as good as the next for spiders if you ask me, but I am aware there are many people either fearful or wary of spiders. If you are in either of those categories, thank you for reading on, I hope that at the end of the post you look at them for the wonderful and diverse group they are and by understanding them better you might keep a certain level of respect for them, but enjoy them more. All the photos were taken today.
 My daughter found a large cluster of Garden Orb Spider Araneus diadematus spiderlings in between two pots (above). These spiderlings balls are now everywhere (even on my car!). Once they hatch from their silky cocoon, they will stay in a tight ball for a few days in a communal web. After they moult they will disperse to make their individual webs and start catching tiny insects, mostly aphids.
 There are two age groups of Araneus in the garden now. The tiny newborn spiderlings and the year old spiders which have survived the winter and are not mature. This large male has built its web in a flowering sage with is always busy with insects.

Male Araneus diadematus on his web.

A male Philodromus aureolus

 We also found this lovely spider crawling on a hedge, on our way back from school. Males of some crab spiders have iridescent scales on their bodies. I think this is Philodromus aureolus. After failing to take a photos where it was as it was quite mobile, I potted it to photograph at home. Shortly after I released him in the garden I found another individual on ivy, and what could possibly be the female of the same species (below). Crab spiders don't build webs, instead sitting on leaves or flowers to ambush flying insects that stop to bask or feed on the flowers.There are several common Philodromus species, and without microscopic examination of their genitals (or palps in the case of males) identification to species is not possible, which is sadly true for many species of spider.

A female Philodromus sp.

 I searched on some bare ground in the garden and didn't take long to find a wolf spider, a Pardosa, (probably amentata). Wolf spiders don't build webs either, but they move about searching for insects, although they also do quite a lot of basking on sunny spots on the ground. As they don't have a 'home' females carry their egg sacs with them attached to their abdomen, which you can see in the photo below. This photo also illustrates the maternal behaviour of spiders: many species build a cocoon for their eggs, which they attach to a dry corner, or carry the egg sacs with them, or the spiderlings (wolf spiders do this!) or even feed the spiderligs with eggs, regurgitated prey or especial eggs. The most extreme form of maternal behaviour is matriphagy, in which the mother allows the spiderlings to eat her, and eventually kill her.

Female wolf spider, Pardosa sp., with her egg sac.

 Another favourite place for spiders is the log pile. I removed a few logs and found a Blue Lace Spider, Amaurobius similis. A spider that forms a very characteristic form of carded silk and can be found on crevices on walls or trunks or on thick ivy. Amaurobius is one of the bunch of species in which females sacrifice themselves to their first batch of spiderlings, a matriphagous species.

Amaurobius similis. 

 And a few logs later a large female House Spider, Tegenaria sp. House spiders built sheet webs funnelling into corners, where they have a retreat. When potential prey lands on the sheet they come out and trap them. You can entice them to come out by spraying some water on the sheet web. If you see a large spider with long legs in the autumn running around on your living room carpet, or you find one in the bath in the morning they are likely to be a male Tegenaria. They have abandoned their retreats and go about searching for mature females to mate.

Female Tegenaria sp.

 Then it was time to go inside. I have a thriving Pholcus phalangiodes (known as Daddy Long Leg spiders) population in the house. They hang from corners in the ceiling, not moving much. This mature female, which lives under a shelf in the toilet, with her distended abdomen, looks ready to lay her eggs. She will wrap them loosely with silk and carry them in her mouth until they hatch. Then she will sit by her spiderlings for two weeks (presumably not eating anything during this time). Despite their spindly appearance, Pholcus are fearsome predators, capable of subduing much larger and stronger spiders by wrapping them in silk with their long legs.

Pholcus phalangioides, mature female.

Hawthorn shieldbug and garden spiders

 At this time of year it is hard not to notice Araneus diadematus, the garden spider. You walk through their orb webs when walking on paths with many hanging by each other by the dozens in front gardens. Most of the individuals you see on their webs now are females. Males have reached maturity and forgot about feeding: mating is the only thing in their mind, so they move across stealthily, in search of just mature fertile females. Many of the females are now just growing their eggs, fattening up, feeding on the many insects still flying in the mild september. The one above got a Hawthorn Shieldbug and rapidly rolled it up with silk, biting it repeatedly. The stink of the bug seems not to bother the spider. It was a dry afternoon, so the tiny dropplets visible on the silk threads on the bottom-left corner of the photo are probably the glue what makes the web sticky.
 I have been photographing garden spiders in the last few days. They are an easy subject. You can find the same individuals day after day in the same spot and you can get very close without disturbing them.

I tried a white background with this one, placing a white card behind the spider outside.

This is the largest spider around, in a very leafy front garden.

Three bright characters for the end of August

Some invertebrates appear as heralds of autumn, and today three striking ones were present in the garden. Migrant Hawkers have been around for a while, forming loose swarms that hunt between 2 and 8 m high, often well away from water. In the cooler, shorter days of late summer it becomes easier to come across sunbathing ones, perched on a branch, often more than one near each other. I flushed this male a few times as I went about in the garden, until I finally spotted him hanging from its perch. I got so close taking the macro above that I could have kissed him.

A single Red Admiral was also about, alternating between feeding in the buddleia and basking on a brick wall. During sunny spells she closed its wings, while during passing clouds she revealed its fresh, amazingly marked wings to their full splendor. This was a beautifully marked individual, the small, delicate blue markings on the edge of its wings very apparent.

I used the flash to counteract the sunshine and reveal the intricate patterning of the underwings, which can make the butterfly well camouflaged.

This garden spider, Araneus diadematus, is one of the largest in the garden, she hangs her web on the side of the rubbish bin, and has her retreat under the rim. Given the size of this species, detailed inspection of the epigyne is possible without even disturbing the spider (click on the photo to see it).

Male garden spider

We found this male garden spider, Araneus diadematus, on our garden gate, actively walking about. Male garden spiders are on the lookout for females in August and September, when they become adult and receptive. This was a large and handsomely marked male, so I gave it a session on the white bowl and then released him near the largest female in the garden.

Drinking spider

The sky was clear of clouds and the temperatures have come down in the night. A dew covers everything in the garden, including a female garden spider, Araneus diadematus, with a large, distended abdomen, nearly ready to lay eggs. She is hiding under her dry leaf retreat on the honeysuckle, and using her rear legs to collect the dropplets of dew on her abdomen. She repeatedly makes a brushing motion and then licks the tip of her leg.

Male garden spiders out on a mission

Even my four year old has noticed that there are lots of spiders about. She found many fresh webs by Araneus diadematus today, and she asked why are there so many now. I tried to explain that they have grown large recently, and that's why we are seeing them more easily, but she discarded this and came up with her own explanation: is her watering the plants yesterday what must have made them grow. Female Araneus diadematus are reaching quite large sizes now, although there is a lot of size variation. The record holder in our garden sits by two rubbish bins, and has probably been gorging on the flies the rubbish attracts. Males have also reached adulthood and, in contrast to the sit-and-wait females, are moving between bushes in search of receptive females. I have come across three in the last few days. They have slimmer abdomens and robust legs and their palps are quite noticeable. The male must be careful, though, as females will quickly make a meal of him if he does not reach their high standards. I found this male getting closer to a small female's web. As he was on a broom, focusing him was very tricky and I resorted to trying the white bowl.

Foggy morning

The fog painted the spider webs hanging from bushes and fences this morning with pearly dew drops. It made evident that at least three spider species are still active. On the photo an Araneus diadematus web, we also saw Zygiella x notata and Linyphia triangularis webs.

Autumn colours

This moth caterpillar was ready for the winter when I disturbed it. I used a cherry leaf as a background. The garden spider below had hung her web in front of the rowan, so I could take advantage of a clump of berries as background.

Two white plate orb spiders

The garden is scattered with orb spiders, including the ubiquitous garden spider Araneus diadematus (above) sat in the middle of their webs during the day, and females, now laden with eggs, are very obvious. But there is a smaller species of orb spider can easily pass unnoticed despite being common in gardens, its the beautifully named, more delicate Metellina segmentata, also known as autumn spider (below). It has longer front legs, and there is a round empty space in the middle of her web. But days are shorter and the sun not as strong, and I miss natural light when taking photos. The orb spiders pose a challenge for my usual white bowl spider portrait technique: they are not walking spiders, and they are at their most comfortable hanging from their webs. So, for these shots of spiders in the garden I replaced my usual white bowl by a large white plate, which I carefully held behind each web while I took their portraits.

German wasp hunting a garden spider

Garden spiders have been quite obvious in the garden for a few weeks now, sitting in the middle of their webs waiting for flying insects to get entangled in their sticky threads. Garden spiders are preyed upon by other animals, including wasps - which later in the year, when garden spiders are larger and more powerful, will eat them in return. This German Wasp (Vespula germanica) caught a middle size garden spider, I saw it fly with it and settle on a drain pipe to subdue it. If the wasp stung the spider I do not know, but its abdomen was curled underneath. After giving the spider a good chew and positioning it under its legs, the wasp flew away. Wasps hunt -and scavenge, famously at picnics -  to feed their larvae.

The wasp with its prey just before flying away

A large garden spider with a wasp prey in October 2008

UPDATE 24/08/11: corrected the title, which said common wasp.

Dysdera crocata showing its impressive fangs

I was moving some pots outside when I found a female Dysdera, the Woodlice hunting spider: an excellent subject for my breakfast bowl technique. I carefully put the spider in a little plastic bug pot, grab the bowl and camera and go outside. Despite the sun, with no flash the spider colours do not come out very well so I use a flash. I want a shot of the fangs so I gently tickle them with a piece of grass and voila! the spider delivers. I can check later that it has got spines on the upper side of the femur in the back legs (see photo below), which is the character that identifies it as a D. crocata, and separates it from Dysdera erythrina, the other British species. D. crocata is also more often found in gardens, and reaches a more northern distribution than D. erythrina.

Ten bluebottles sitting on the wall

Posts in BugBlog are necessarily becoming spaced out now. Although we have not had a frost yet, days are colder and darker heralding the arrival of winter, and insects are becoming scarcer by the day. Sunny today, there were still some bugs around. There were several active spider species: Garden spiders, Mouse spider, Linyphia triangularis, Amaurobius and Zygiella. The garden spider female above hangs her web every day just outside the kitchen window. I liked the effect of the ripe cotoneaster berries in the background.

We came across this colourful Birch Bug, Elasmostethus intersinctus, while gardening. I identified it using the site British Bugs A great resource on hemipterans.
Greeting me early in the morning this bunch of bluebottles sunbathing on a fence. There were more than ten, but they reminded me of the song...

A harvestman, Opilio canestrini with legs outstretched on the wall.

Honeybees were the first active bees of the year and by the look of it, they are going to be the last ones too. A few are feeding on the Fuschia in the last few days. 

The positive aspect of the relative scarcity of bug activity in the garden is that I can actually do some gardening without having to rush every two minutes to the house to fetch the camera!