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Post by NellyDee on Oct 16, 2018 8:11:45 GMT
I just love seeing the spiders webs like gossamer spread around the plants and grasses in the early morning frost. lots of different webs but these are one of my favourites. No idea which spider made these.  spiders webs by Helen Skelton, on Flickr |
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Post by duncan74 on Nov 1, 2018 15:17:11 GMT
Hi Helen, I have just replied to RB on spiders site about misting a web with water to enhance the photo, I use this small bottle filled with tap water after it was washed out with soapy water then rinsed a few times with clean water, this is a good way to find webs as well if sprayed onto, say, a gorse bush Most sheet web weavers are from the Linyphiidae family of spiders spin the kind of web that you have posted, they are usually underneath the web and are tiny. Duncan  P1030933 by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr |
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 6, 2018 10:31:29 GMT
Thank you Duncan. with your reference I found it fascinating reading the information on Linyphiidae, which I found on the British Arachnological site - britishspiders.org.uk/wiki2015/index.php?title=Category:Linyphiidae Especially this bit "They use a method of dispersal called 'ballooning'. The spider lets out a strand of silk into the air, wind currents lift the spider into the air, and it 'flies'". I have often see very long 'strands of silk blowing in the wind and wondered why. Somewhere in the depth of my memory was 'money spider' but I thought it referred to the tiny little red spiders, often seen near books and paper or potted plants. I remember my father saying you should never kill these or move them as they are special. I thought it was folklore. My father would have been 118 this year. |
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Post by duncan74 on Nov 7, 2018 16:55:39 GMT
Hi Helen,
Yes you are right in calling them money spiders, that is the general term for them, and yes they can balloon like crazy sometimes lovely to see in the bright sunlight as it hits the gossamer threads.
Duncan,
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