Having
struggled to get half way through the New Naturalists Slugs and Snails, it’s
quite a slog, as I was reading about the sex lives of snails my eye was taken
to some action in the garden. For some time
now, during the dry weather there has been a very large and finely built
spiders web not far from the window and the action was taking place there. I initially thought that the (garden) spider
was attempting to eat some captured prey, but it turned out to be some
courtship manoeuvring going on. I was
able to get a front seat view of this without any apparent disturbance of the
pair of spiders who both seemed to have other things on their mind. It did take me a while to grasp what was
going on, in fact as the female appeared curled up tightly in the web I did
think on first looking that this was dead prey.
Garden Spider Embrace!
Having
watched for a few minutes I noticed that the male was approaching along the web,
what turned out to be the female. After
much stretching and leg movement towards the female the male would then back
off and disappear. This happened at
least three times before he eventually made a more ardent approach and appeared
to stroke the female with two legs whilst holding the web with at least two
legs. The male then made a grab for the
female and they formed a curled ball like coupling for at least 20
seconds. I watched the process take
place three times and in each case it ended with the same coupling after which
the male would quickly disappear for a short time along the strands of the
web. It was all very interesting to
watch in close-up and certainly more interesting than the book, a book I would
only recommend if you’re really keen on Slugs and Snails and have at least some
basic knowledge of them. As I say, the
read is quite a slog and I never did complete my reading of the entire book.
Male courts female
Female awaits her mate
My attempts
at macro photography failed for the most part on this occasion and I blame
light, lots of movement and lack of photographic skill on my behalf, but I will
include a couple of images to give an idea of the event.
Painted Lady Butterfly
Painted Lady Butterfly
It’s been a
good season for Butterflies and once again I have had Holly Blues in the
garden, as I have over the past few years.
This time over a course of a few weeks.
I’m assuming possibly laying eggs on the Holly Trees although I need to
do some reading up again on this species.
Being very flighty when ever approached I gave up causing disturbance
but did on one or two occasions get an excellent sighting. The images of Butterflies I include here are
of more common species but no less worthwhile for that. Also in the garden. I did notice this year I had a Ringlet in the
garden which I have never recorded before.
Peacock Butterfly
Peacock Butterfly
My birding
time has been very limited recently, but I have managed a couple of visits to a
very dry Druridge Bay. Little owl provided
a good sighting once again. The dry
weather seems to have helped in earlier weeks to provide a very special
botanical display.
Speckled Wood Butterfly
Green Veined White Butterfly
Small White Butterfly
