watching the web

[UB4 gardener]

hi all, I confess i like spiders, and on Saturday i sat and watched a female garden spider build her web start to finish. a facinating watch it was to. the main frame, guide lines, were spun and gone over again at least five times. she then started on what i call the spokes of the web, she would run down one, trailing the silk behind her, stick it to the fraame before climbing up the new spoke back to the middle. once they were all in place she went anti clockwise round with a guide spiral with wide gaps. when she reached the outer edge she started clockwise from the outside working her way to the middle(ended up 32 times). Its only then that the "glue" was added. the other thing i noticed was that she cut the original spiral guide lines as she got to them. all in all it took her an hour and 40 minutes, and watching her coordinate her 8 legs was facinating.

from someone with too much time their hands

Chris

[Susie]

A few weeks back I watched a male garden spider courting a female. It was fascinating watching him tentatively approach her and make a quick dash back before trying again. I only managed to watch for a short while though but it was still interesting.