St Andrews cross spider

Due to power cuts, I had to back blip yesterdays shot at 2am.

I came away from today's session at the common feeling that the takings were a bit on the weak side, but back at the lab, I was pleasantly surprised. I think it was because there just a few shots here and the odd snap there, as nothing seemed to want to sit still long enough for a decent shoot, apart from a caterpillar and a bug.

I had a good grin when I found the spider, as it was the same species that I blipped the belly side of on the 5th December, but the gardener selfishly swept it away before I could blip the top side. I say selfishly because the gardener did not cultivate that part of the land, but knew I was returning repeatedly to photograph the arachnid. I was sorely tempted to trample his newly planted seedlings, but what would that have achieved, apart from making me feel better.

The yellow and black patterns are quite different to the first spider of this type that I blipped on the 4th December but exquisite nonetheless and I think worth a blip. I cropped in for maximum effect.

In addition to the spider, I collected shots of four butterflies, a pair of mating black ladybirds, caterpillar and a few bugs. I guess the session was a bit weak, but one of the butterflies had a decoy head with moving antennae and was destined for blip, but I'll get her another day.

Dave