I love golden orb spiders. The little fella is an adult male and the big one is the female. Usually there are 3 or more males in a web, but this lady only had one suitor in sight. Love the lacy pattern on her head! Thank you for the awesome comments and questions on my photos.
@jacqbb they are pretty fascinating - apparently the female is more likely to eat the bigger males, so finally in this world being a small petite guy may help you live longer. They pretty much run in and try to mate her while she is busy feeding on some new catch, and hope she doesn't notice. nature is beyond strange ain't she? :)
Am a big spider fan. Years ago, R & I were at a bash in a Bristol hotel and stayed overnight. I was delighted to discover a spider before a member of staff finished its life with a swift crush. We took it home with us in a box that had contained complimentary toiletries and released it into the wilds of Swindon.
@s4sayer yes people have this auto-responder to kill them don't they! I had an environmental science student here and we were checking the nesting boxes when I found this beauty. I nearly walked through a web support and he was upset for a moment he may have disturbed the web but he had missed it, ladder and all. We then spent a little while photographing her and discussing orbs :)
good job in that hotel, spiders are SO important!
@koalagardens People like to kill everything they see it seems... simply use a glass and a piece of paper will also work... catch it and drop it outside the house :)
@annied this web was so multidimensional - it went out in many directions rather than the usual flat web. you often have to look hard to find the males as they usually wait on the edges. After the first few photos I moved around a bit and disturbed some of the grass that had web supports so the web got a little jostled - this male must have been hoping she had some prey and was feeding and he would get his chance ... hope he didn't get eaten after we left hahaha
@ubobohobo oh yes the girls do eat the little males. I accidentally disturbed the web a little and the male must have thought she had caught something and was feeding and he came to the centre, most likely in the hopes of a mating opportunity while she was busy eating. when I took the first photos he was sitting quite a distance out on the web :)
in the wild, life is sure about weighing up the dangers :)
I also wanted to thank you for all the comments over the (so far) year. I am 100% sure you are my top commenter, and have found the bright side of photos that I couldn't find any up-side to.
@teriyakih what a beautiful comment to read first thing in the morning for me here. I am so honoured to be your top commenter, I had no idea at all! I have learned so many things about photography here from every one of you, by stopping and looking at images you all present and thinking about aspects of photography. Some I had never even heard of before coming here - I really could only point a camera and click and hope. So thank you for supporting my project, I know that you constantly take the time to comment here and help make this one of the highlights of my photographic day :)
May 30th, 2019
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good job in that hotel, spiders are SO important!
j
in the wild, life is sure about weighing up the dangers :)
I also wanted to thank you for all the comments over the (so far) year. I am 100% sure you are my top commenter, and have found the bright side of photos that I couldn't find any up-side to.