Don't look up!

Identification - nephila sp, probably nephila kuhlii, black wood spider.

Update - Identification - Nephila antipodiana - Batik Golden Web Spider.

Apparently more heavy rains in the night, but I slept through it all as I don't remember a thing about it. The evidence was clear enough though, rubbish and rubble strewn across the roads, also a thin coating of mud which made motorbike riding particularly hairy.

Possibly the worst day ever for some idiot on a bike to attempt a U-turn right in front of me. How I managed to stay upright under heavy braking I have no idea, I must have looked like Mr Bean, dancing on ice! Still, the guy has had his English vocabulary enhanced for free.

I made it to the blipping grounds in one piece and set to. Maman (yesterday's blip) had repaired the path after yesterday's land slide, with a typical Indonesian bridge construction, five bamboo poles laid across the abyss, pegged at the sides to stop them rolling. I was not very happy, my name's Dave not Blondini!

The grasses and ground shrubs were heavy with moisture and very soon my feet were slipping and sliding in my flip-flops. It was then that I discovered that I had not packed my towel. I may have to cross the bamboo high wire on all fours on the way back.

Yet again, blip material was very thin on the ground, a couple of caterpillar backups, but nothing special. Plenty of golden orb spiders, pilipes and kuhlii, a few St.Andrews spiders and a couple of tent spiders, hundreds of long jaw spiders, a hand full of lynx spiders, a recently hatched nest of about 500 spiderlings and a grass hopper.

I looked up in the hope of finding a green lizard and this (blip) was the sight that greeted me, about two feet above my head. I actually had to take a knee to get the whole thing in frame.

When I took the shot, I thought it was just another nephila pilipes, but back at the lab with the arachnid on screen, the red legs eliminated that possibility. Nephila kuhlii, the black wood spider has red legs, but I checked my kuhlii folder and none of my images showed the six white spots on the front of the abdomen. I wish now that I had paid more attention. The spider will still be there tomorrow, if I can remember where I saw it.

Personally, I think it is a pretty good shot, but moan about it if you must.

Dave