SPIDERS IN THE GARDEN



I admit, I have arachnophobia, to a degree.  Anything bigger than tiny gives me the shudders and even the tiny ones are only tolerated so long as they don't try and hitch a lift on me.  They do no harm in the garden and I am sure they eat plenty of aphids if those pesky little insects are unfortunate enough to land on their webs.  I took this macro photo of a tiny spider, about 10mm across, yesterday.  It's not a very good macro as the breeze kept blowing, the web kept fluttering, and the spider kept bouncing like it was on a trampoline.  All the same, you can see the detail.  It had made its web between one of my hanging baskets and a flower pot on the table below. 

Tiny golden spider, about 1cm across, hanging between hanging basket and flowerpot on table.

In the below you can see the thread of silk coming out of the pointed spinneret (at the end of the spider's abdomen).  In the below shot, the spider is upside down.





Tiny golden spider, about 1cm across, hanging between hanging basket and flowerpot on table

Below, the spider has turned itself around, (fused) head upwards, so that now you can just see the tiny black eyes. 



Tiny golden spider, about 1cm across, hanging between hanging basket and flowerpot on table

I found it gruesomely fascinating how the victim, a minute black fly, is wrapped up to look like a piece of caramel.





Spiders victim