Fizz and I have been out having adventures. Here is something that we found.
This large sheet web with a big tunnel at the back of it is the home of a Labyrinth Spider.
It is quite safe, we don’t have any dangerous Spiders in the UK and only a very small handful that even have the strength to pierce human skin and cause a bite.
That tunnel at the back leads down into a labyrinth of smaller tunnels, hence the common name of the Spider and at the heart of the labyrinth is her egg chamber.
I am going to pretend to be a nearly dead fly and wriggle about on the edge of the web in the hope that she will come out and try to eat me.
I can’t get her out more than this without risking getting my arm bit off and also damaging her web and we don’t want either of those things to happen.
Her web is a marvellous piece of engineering and a work of art, I just wish that I could get deeper inside it. (Fizz held me back 🙂 )
Labyrinth Spider, Agelena Labyrinthica.
A Tramp in the Woods 
Again, very nice.
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Thanks Emilio 🙂
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This post needs a warning .D I’m so scared of spiders 😀 I still have to admit that the web is fascinating !
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🙂 🙂 Yesterday I brought home a Crab Spider that I found on a white flower and put it on a yellow flower. My intention was to photograph it changing colour. My evil plan didn’t work, the buttercups wilted and the spider escaped out of the window. Otherwise I would be frightening you again 🙂 Thanks Gin.
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I absolutely love spiders and your images are amazing. Wow! 😊
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Thank you very much Dorne 🙂
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Fizz is a smart puppy:) She’s a lovely spider and she has a beautiful home.
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Thank you Gigi 🙂
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Cute little spider. For several years we had a Writing Spider weave her web between the railings on our front porch. She was big and beautiful and her web looked like she had zigzagged it on the sewing machine. Then she went away and never returned. I miss her!
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Thanks Sandi 🙂 I have never seen a Writing Spider and had to look that one up. Apparently we do get them here but only on the South coast. I will look for one next time I go to the seaside 🙂
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They’re beautiful! The one that visited us was Yellow and black. Unlike you, I rarely take pictures, but I’m going to start. I never want to lose the opportunity of capturing a critter on film that I may never see again. Thanks for sharing your adventures and motivating me to pay closer attention to the world around me. Like your picture. Happy trails! Sandi
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Their webs are beautiful. Apparently people mistake them for funnel web spiders and panic about yet another dangerous alien species invasion.
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Thanks RR 🙂 Of course there are Aliens amongst us but we are supposed to be trying to keep the public calm! 🙂
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I saw something very similar yesterday so I’m off to investigate further!
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Thanks Diana 🙂 I visited her web again yesterday, it is quite a sturdy affair. She will stay there looking after her young until they are ready to leave the web. I am thinking of a follow up post. If she dies before they are ready to leave they will eat her. This could become a soap opera 🙂
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Just a question of ‘point of view’ — rather a nice idea if you are a spider.
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She is a beauty! I now realize I need a new Macro Lens, my 105mm Sigma just is’nt cutting it..:-)
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Thanks Ed 🙂 I think that you should consider the best Bridge cameras as an alternative to a new lens. A second camera is always handy. They are cheaper than a new lens. Small and very versatile. They are not point and shoot either, if I leave my camera on auto the pictures are rubbish, a little bit of understanding of light is required. BTW your pictures are great and tell the story of what it is like to be on the road in the USA, I really look forward to your posts 🙂
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Thanks, never heard of a Bridge camera, I usually shoot in Aperature mode and adjust ISO and WB as needed.. 🙂
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This spider looks huge, but how big is it really? As ever a great sequence of shots.
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Hi Stephen, thanks for the comment 🙂 A spider is as big as your fear of them (It is about a foot wide Gin 🙂 ) Reality? I would say that it’s body would fit on a 5p piece. It is not really very big.It is a round one rather than a long thin one. I want to photograph the spiderlings and I am wondering how effective that will be, they will be quite small.
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We have these here in BC, they are usually situated along the bottom of the fence and the first rung. I’m not sure but I believe my Shit-itzu got bit last year by one of these, poor little guy was yelping in pain and then in itch! It left 2 large holes! Not fun, I detest spiders but have a great deal of respect for them!!
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Many thanks for the comment. I realise that the situation is very different in other parts of the world. We don’t have any poisonous spiders here. Strangely we have got horse flies that deliberately attack us and won’t be flicked away, they are very persistent but hardly anybody is afraid of flies.
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