Autumn Spider

Feeling guilty about the mass of leaves outside, I knew I just had to get out there.

In and amongst the leaf litter was this Garden spider - she was not too happy and very slow - well slow..ish. 'A' for effort she tried to get up the side of a pot but would only get so far then fall on her back. Mistaking the first drop for a jump I nearly dropped the camera in shock being up so close - she was pretty big! Her days looked numbered; I think she is in the autumn of her life as she is one year old, has presumably laid her eggs and her body isn't as plump as you would expect.

There are 650 species of spider in Britain and 70,000 worldwide for those arachnophobics out there! The good news being only 24 can kill humans and there is no deadly spider native to Britain - if that is good news?

Araneus diadematus or Garden spider passes the winter as an egg living only a year whereas the house spider can live between 1-6 years!! She spins her web and the male scavenges off it. Rather than the female eating the male or the young eating the mother as sometimes happens with some species, the males of many spiders in Britain mate with many females and die of natural causes - ah ........we're not soo different then?!

Millions of thanks for the hearts and stars yesterday - totally thrilled!!!