A slight detour from the mothematics and the feathered aviators. If you’re an arachnophobe now is the time to look away or if you’re trying aversion therapy, start staring at the screen and scrolling now!
The first three photos are of a Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi)Â which had spun its orb web on the edge of the footpath leading from the Visitors’ Centre to the Photography Station:
The two archno photos below are of a Cross Spider, or more formally a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus). In the lower of the two one spider is about to drag the more prominent one up and under the nettle leaves (not entirely sure whether the lower one was dead at this point):
The final spider of the day is a male Marbled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus). The abdomen of the female resembles a swollen orange pumpkin giving the species its other common name of the Pumpkin Spider.
