In my previous blog post, I mentioned finding a special little spider. I thought it was worth putting the images in a separate post.
There weren’t many flowers around in the drought, but a few pink scabious were dotted around. Passing one on my left, I spotted a tiny speck of white vanish underneath. I was intrigued, so crept over and knelt down. I found a tiny flower crab spider trying to keep out of view. My shadow must have scared her. Settling down, I waited until she felt safe and appeared on the edge of her flower. Taking the photograph featured at the top, I was thrilled to bits, having tried to find one for the past couple of years.
Gathering up my gear, I set off up the path to explore a large field and look for burnet moths. Returning about 90 minutes later, I had absolutely no intention of looking for the spider again, but somehow I recognised the flower and decided to give it another go. This time she peeked out at me from her favourite hiding spot.
I was on the point of getting up when a bee landed on top of the flower. The spider rushed out to check, but was clearly intimidated by the size. (I have previously photographed a fully grown crab spider with her bee prey. She averaged about one bee per day over the course of a week). I didn’t have enough depth of field to get them both in focus, but I love how she is checking the bee out with one leg. I do hope I’m able to find another one next year.
Sid
15 Dec 2022Great pics ❤️
But the spider…
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
16 Dec 2022Oh Sid! Try Googling “colourful jumping spider” and look at the images. Jumping spiders are really small and don’t have long legs. They have adorable little faces too 😀
Colin
16 Dec 2022Useful tip for winter: when bringing your camera in from sub-zero conditions, wrap it in a microfibre cloth until it’s warmed up. That way, any moisture from the warm air will be absorbed before it can get into the inside of the camera
Zooey
17 Dec 2022Thank you so much for this. It’s a problem I’ve had in the past – especially doing astrophotography on a beach in the middle of the night. Keeping a close eye on the dewpoint helps too. I use THIS web site 🙂