Mistress of Camouflage

While searching for fresh praying mantis egg cases I came across this spider huddled up to an old egg case. It is on the north facing end of a length of railway line that has been bent into a wide, low arch that I used to grow beans on. It’s very old, and was at one time painted. The spider’s web is around the other side across the inner corner of the arch. I have often searched in nooks and crannies for her, but never thought to look in the open. She is a common garden orb web spider, Eriophora pustulosa, a native of New Zealand in that her tribe made their own way here from Australia. They take on a wide variety of colours and patterns, the better to conceal themselves. This one fascinated me with her pattern that mimics the flaking paint on the iron.

As for the fresh praying mantis egg cases (ootheca) I have found no less than ten! This is very exciting for me. Last year I didn’t find any. Some are in impractical places. One female I watched climbing laboriously through low Buddleia twigs. She was so fat that she could hardly climb. Next day I searched for her ootheca and found it upside down on the end of a dead flower bract. Other ootheca are on Viburnum leaves that are on branches I was intending to cut back after flowering. I have marked them all with red wool tied near them. I still know the whereabouts of one slim female. She needs a few more drones to eat. Yesterday I saw her make a grab at a little hoverfly that took hasty evasive action.