creatively busy

We were all working hard in the garden when hubby moved a wooden chair and spotted this on the back. We stood and watched the white circle and then noticed the spider crawling round and round the perimeter. The brighter white dot in the centre looked like a cluster of eggs and then we realised that she was moving inwards, spinning as she went, beginning to form a dome shaped nest to cover the eggs.

We are struggling with the camera trying to improve our focusing skills ... this was the best shot out of ten!
I had never seen this type of behaviour before and thought some of you might be interested enough to excuse the poor photography ... and some might even be able to help us identify this little lady.

In the meantime I think we had better find the camera instruction book and try, try again. If nothing has disturbed her we may be able to try a shot of the completed nest tomorrow ...

If you view this 'large' you can see her incredibly long legs.