Nursery web spiders ; Pisaura mirabilis,

Spider, butterflies and a moth or two

First photo was  in my garden the thistle tent was taken on the path into town

Special features:  Nursery web spiders are narrow bodied and can be grey or brown in colour.  There is a pale stripe just behind the head, and the sides of the abdomen are also pale coloured. The top of the abdomen features a leaf shaped marking.

In early spring you can often find Nursery web spiders stretched out on stems and leaves sunning themselves.  They wait for flies and other insects to pass by, and then use quick sprinting and strength to overpower them.

After mating, the female Nursery web spider lays her eggs into a silk cocoon which she carries around in her fangs.  Just before the eggs hatch, she spins a silk tent (nursery web) and releases her spiderlings inside it.  This tent offers them some protection for the first few days of their life.  After their first moult they leave the tent.  The female stays close to the tent until all the spiderlings have dispersed.

Because of my back problems I have bought a lumix 20 zoom camera,  to carry with me when I pop out for a walk. its not too bad a camera apart from the zoom is not up to much and too close the picture gets blurred. when I go off on my bike I take the heavy stuff like the canon and its zoom lenses.  but as the doctor tells me no point in coming too see me just cos you have over done it again.   all the shots with a date and time on are taken with the Lumix.  problem is I can go out some days and not see a single shot worth taking.

Holly blue on a nasturtium flower do not often see the holly blue  in the garden,

Lots of green-veigned and small white butterflies about at the moment the only one I have not managed to get a shot of is the cabbage white,

 meadow brown

 Gatekeeper

 small tortoiseshell

 under view of the speckled wood.

the only shot this month of the comma,

 tortoiseshell with its wings closed

 Ringlet

Another single shot of the Peacock butterfly

 green bottle or blow fly

 at this time of year we have hundreds of moths  this is a dark form of the common rustic.

and a much larger one the hebrew character,