x7 images. Double click to enlarge. It’s amazing what you see sometimes as you travel through your own backyard. I spied this female Araneus diadematus some days ago. She is really quite a big individual and had made a large orbweb stretched between a plant pot and some shrubbery. Here she has a good meal… Read More The Dangers of Courtship For The Male Garden Spider Araneus diadematus
x1 image. x2 focus stacked. Double click to enlarge. This is the Cucumber Green Spider Araniella cucurbitina sensu lato.
Rabbit Hutch Spider (Steatoda bipunctata) – The first image has a kind of creepy smiley doll face. Commonly found near or in human habitation such as outbuildings or sheds, and probably rabbit hutches.
Zebra Spider (Salticus scenicus) I am sure it thought that if it couldn’t see me I couldn’t see it. Its larger frontal eyes are tucked under the moss. It seems to have been a very good year for these. More of them around, and larger, too, so getting a good diet.
This rather attractive green coloured spider is seen spring through to autumn, on trees and bushes, often in suburban gardens and parks. Double-click to enlarge.
One brave spider for going up against a wasp.
Enoplognatha ovata – This spider comes in 3 flavors … well not quite flavours but forms or ‘morphs’. Not quite faces either, but opisthosomas or abdomens. Form lineata is creamy-yellow with black dots, form redimita is also creamy-yellow but with two broad red stripes and lines of black dots, and finally form ovata has a… Read More 3 Faces of The Candy-striped Spider
Life can be downright strange at times, full of odd coincidences and weird synchronicities. Well early this morning I was revamping one of my spider pages on this site which happened to be Platnickina tincta, and then a couple of hours later there was a knock on the door and a delivery driver with a… Read More A Surprise Arrival
Daddy Long-legs Spider Pholcus phalangioides I always have these in the sheds, and garage, and they will also appear in the house. I leave them be in the sheds beacause they are not hurting anyone there or causing any bother, but in the house they have to go outside. If you do see one of… Read More Something Alien
Steatoda nobilis – A first for me, and discovered in my bathroom, and narrowly avoided a toothbrush been hurled at it in the early hours by a startled family member. A distant cousin of the Black Widow, this is the largest of the 3 false widow spiders found in Britain, and the most notorious. This… Read More Noble False Widow Spider
Zebra Spider (Salticus scenicus) – Opening up the garden shed and entering one morning I encountered this on one of my garden seat cushions I store in there. A Zebra Spider with quite a catch. It is a Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella), quite a bit larger than the spider, yet taken down. It was probably… Read More Carnivorous Zebras
Tenuiphantes sp. – This is one of the tiny money spiders, about 3-4mm long, and this one was dangling off a rose petal. How it held on I do not know. Double-click image for a closer look.
Daddy Long-legs Spider (Pholcus phalangioides) – These have been regular tenants in my sheds and garage (they are evicted from the house on sight) for as long as I remember. I think they are one of the strangest of spiders around. If you disturb them in their web they go crazy and shake and wobble… Read More Hanging In The Shed
Araniella cucurbitina sensu lato – One of the more colourful spiders with a delightful common name. They are only small. You can tell how big it is by the fragment of moss it is clinging to in the top image whilst it is pretending to be ‘Super Spider’. Double-click images to enlarge. © Peter Hillman… Read More Cucumber Green Spider
Trochosa terricola – This male with his darkened front legs was attracted to the light of my moth trap. It is a species I have not seen in the garden before. If you want to learn more about this spider please click on the link below. Double-click images to enlarge. Ground Wolf Spider page » ©… Read More Ground Wolf Spider
Pirata piraticus – This is a small juvenile, and an exciting new find for me. They live on the water’s edge, and can walk and hunt on the water with water repellent legs. If you want to learn more about this spider please click on the link below. Double-click images to enlarge. Pirate Wolf Spider page… Read More Pirate Wolf Spider
Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp.) – This is a male sunning on a fallen branch on the riverbank. A peek into their world. Double-click to enlarge images. © Peter Hillman ♦ 10th April 2020 ♦ Local riverbank, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Goldenrod Spider (Misumena vatia) – I see the female plenty of times around the garden, but hardly ever the male. This one must have been real hungry perched on the edge of a petal trying to grab passing flies. © Peter Hillman ♦ 20th May 2018 ♦ Rear garden, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Pseudeuophrys lanigera – Me and Mike Powell (you should really go and check out his fabulous blog ‘My Journey Through Photography’ right now!) We know some folk get a little creeped out by these things … but who could fail to be moved by the cute little puppy dog eyes on this very small jumping… Read More Puppy Dog Eyes
Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp.) – These furry critters just love to hang around in the sun. Lots of these around at the moment. Double-click image to get even closer … if you really wanna. © Peter Hillman ♦ 27th March 2020 ♦ Rear garden, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Araneus diadematus – This was a relatively small Garden Spider which was hanging around on a fence panel at the bottom of the garden. I am always taken by the intricacy of their webs, but it looks like this one has had one or two problems. Double-click image for a closer look. © Peter Hillman… Read More Garden Spider
Misumena vatia – These have to be the craftiest spiders I know of. This one was waiting for flies to land on the rose blossom to grab and eat. Double-click image for a closer look. © Peter Hillman ♦ 21st June 2019 ♦ Back garden, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp) female with spiderlings. They always like to warm themselves on my decking. Now you know want I’m going say next, don’t you? It’s about double-clicking … if you wanna get closer … but you don’t have to … maybe this is close enough? Copyright: Peter HillmanCamera used: Nikon D7200Date taken: 16th… Read More Not One For The Squeamish
This is but a small plant pot, and I know you may think this odd, but I just grow a clump of moss in it all year round and nothing more. It appears to attract some varied wildlife (especially if you lift it up and look underneath it) and this Philodromus sp. crab spider was… Read More That Plant Pot Again
I was photographing another species of spider on a plant pot (a lot seems to happen on this plant pot for some reason?) and this one came along. I think it is a young Clubiona sp. and it was so small it was getting lost amongst the moss leaves. The darn thing would not keep… Read More Moss Becomes A Jungle
Philodromus sp. Rear garden. September 2019 © Pete Hillman.
Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) September 2019 © Pete Hillman.
… not really … just the Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) Yep … if you really, really wanna … feel free to click on the image to enlarge and click again to get even … (deep scary voice here) … closer … July 2019, rear garden, South Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
I found this little Clubiona sp. of spider under my green recycling bin hatch. Oh … do not click twice on the top full face image unless you really want this nice spider right in ‘your’ face …. July 2019, rear garden, South Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
These Zebra Spider (Salticus scenicus), always appear to be quite territorial, and I only ever see them around the outside of my shed and garage. And boy do these little jumping spiders jump! Feel free to click to enlarge and click again to get even closer on the images … July 2019, rear garden, South… Read More Zebra
This mighty female crab spider (Misumena vatia) grabs itself a nice bee for lunch and these three little freeloader flies want their piece of it as well. Feel free to click to enlarge and click again to get even closer … only if you really want to. July 2019, local field, South Staffordshire, England. ©… Read More The Crab, The Bee And Three Flies
I have never seen anything quite like this before. A butterfly snared by a crab spider. Feel free to click to enlarge and click again to get even closer. July 2019, local field, South Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Click and click again on the image to get that little bit closer … only if you want to look her in her many eyes! This is the crab spider Misumena vatia, and a lovely female on the edge of one of my flowerpots. June 2019, rear garden, South Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Click and click again on the image to get that little bit closer … A sweat bee snared by a Goldenrod Spider (Misumena vatia). June 2019, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
It is quite amazing what you can find by lifting a leaf in the backyard and looking hard. This tiny little Snout Mite scurried about in circles and was hell to try and photo before it disappeared down a crack in a wall. This was the best image I got, and how strange it is.… Read More Aliens Amongst Us
Now this little spider wasn’t in the green recyling bin, but on the wall of my study. I took it outside to take some snaps. It is one of the ‘Jumping Spiders’, and do they jump! Click and click again on the images to get that little bit closer … May 2019, rear garden, Staffordshire,… Read More Getting A Room
It’s quite amazing what you can find in your green recycle bin at times. I found this male Candy Stripe Spider Enoplognatha sp. form lineata clinging to the underside of the lid. May 2019, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
This is a female Wolf Spider with her eggsac Pardosa sp. We were kind of playing hide and see for a while as I tried to photograph her sunning herself. Mind you I suppose I would object if I had a giant lens thrust into my face whilst I was sunbathing. Click and click again… Read More Warming The Eggs
Hairy legs and hairy leaves, this is where Pardosa sp (possibly Pardosa amentata the Spotted Wolf Spider) meets Bugle Ajuga reptans. This is the darker male of the spider species, and you can just about make out its large dark palps at the front. I see a lot of these at the bottom of the… Read More Where The Hairy Meets The Hairy
Click once to expand view, click again to get that little bit closer Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis, May 2018, local field margin, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman
