Warning: this update contains arachnids...

This is going to be an unusual post, in as much as it concentrates on one subject. In fairness to my loyal reader, I think it's only fair to prepare you for what follows, so that you can choose whether to partake or not.

So then, clue number one...

   I have never used one of these, but do you know what it relates to I wonder?

Clue number two... (this should do it!)

Yes, this update is all about SPIDERS. There I said it! 

And so, if you belong in the 6% of people around the world who are terrified by spiders (even pictures of spiders) then I suggest that you abort now, especially if you are British, because we Brits are spider-phobic up to 45%!

If on the other hand you are savvy enough to be able to appreciate the beauty of these much-maligned creatures, even IF you are phobic, then you are in for a real treat.

September is spider month of course, the month when social media is awash with sightings of 'A huge spider I have never seen before' and 'Is this a Black widow' type posts.

I took a stroll through a local meadow, come wooded area a few days ago, and this update features some of the finds from just an hour spent there...

First up is this mother-of-all spiders...

Well, she could be a mum soon I guess, she looks pretty gravid. These are all 4-Spot Orb weavers (Araneus quadratus) by the way.

This very variably-coloured spider holds the British weight record.

The spider is not normally found in gardens. It is found on vegetation which has sufficient height and strength to support the large orb web. The web is usually found stretched across the gap between plants...

All of these spiders were found in one area, on a short walk, on one particular day...

The SHRS (Spider & Harvestman Recording Scheme) says this: 4 Spot-Orb Weaver spiders mature in late summer and autumn. The best distinguishing feature is the pattern of four large spots on the abdomen. These photographs are all of females...

However, the males, which are quite a bit smaller, are just as impressive looking I think...

And now we arrive at that 'not too sure' moment. This next image could be another male 4-spot, but might also be a male garden spider?

I had to get the next one verified by the 'British Spider Identification' group. I had initially thought it might be a Marbled Orb-weaver, but have now had it confirmed as the very similar Bordered Orb-weaver (Neoscona adianta). 

Steven Falk on his excellent Flickr profile for this spider has this to say: This is a localised southern-biased species with the bulk off its population concentrated along the southern coast, the Home Counties, sandy areas of East Anglia, the New Forest and Dorset heaths. Favoured habitats include heathland, saltmarsh edge, fens and tall grassland.

It took a while for it to register in my rapidly ageing brain, but it eventually dawned on me that I had found this species 4 years ago, in exactly the same area; albeit a very different looking specimen...

Quite a nice example of how tricky identification can be though.

Two years after that spider find, I wrote a piece for a local magazine about the spread of an introduced spider that was first recorded in Rye in the 1920's.

I wrote that the first sighting of the species close to my home town, was probably in Ashford Kent in 1997 but that the population was exploding right across the country, and that 'You probably won't have met one of these spiders yet, but the chances are that sooner or later you will'. 

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was alerted to the presence of this species in Marden Kent by Lou Carpenter of Marden Wildlife, and so I went to see if I could find one for myself: what am I talking about? The fabulous Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

Sure enough, I managed to locate one, although on that day I only captured one shot with the DSLR before it had a hissy-fit and shut down; the other image is from my phone.

However, that aside, it was encouragement enough to have a thorough search of an area right behind my house that I have suspected for a long time would be ideal habitat. That area just happens to be the same one in which I found the Orb-weavers. Would I be able to find one though? Erm...

I sure did: not only did I find this fabulous female, but I was lucky enough to spot a few more as well...

By the time I was heading for home, the tally was eight! I didn't find any males, but that's not unusual. Of course, it's in the nature of any budding naturalist that however good a day they might have had, and I'd just had a great one, well, great morning anyway, they always want more, think they could have done just that little bit better?

And so having called it a day with my spider hunting, I was mooching along towards home and thinking what would really top my spider finds, would be a wasp spider egg sac: I had been kinda looking out for them earlier, but had given up and concentrated on the spiders themselves. 

And then, right by the exit gate, something caught my eye low down in the grasses, it wasn't an egg sac, but I couldn't resist finding out what it might be, and so out came the camera again and I took this shot...

Once I got down to eye-level, I could see that it was a tiny Tortoise bug nymph. That's not all I saw either, for right behind was...an egg sac!

Wasp spider egg sacs are as you might expect, quite large, and at first glance look a little like a poppy seed pod. Boy was I pleased that I stopped to investigate that other little bug: here is proof, if proof were needed, that the spiders are indeed living and breeding locally.

That's just about it for the spider-special. Thanks to anyone who stayed with me to get this far. With any luck, and a following wind, by posting some pictures on my blog from time to time, familiarity with these intriguing creatures will go some way to assuage your fears? Probably not: but I live in hope!