Some pictures of a busy girl in my garden.

Originally Posted by Brian

Wow, briliant pics Sid, looks like a real pro job!

Yeah Dave The Rave is right, it's a male.
Looks like a Cross or Garden Spider (Araneus diademetus).
Not a 100% sure as I can't see the markings on its back, if it has/had a white cross-shaped mark on the top of it's abdomen then that's what it is.

You can tell it's a male due to the Palpi it has.

Palpi or not I just looked at the mess in the middle of the web and I cn tell it's a male. Just wants to get the job finished and then sit a chill

BTW what is the Palpi?

Originally Posted by Dave The Rave

Palpi or not I just looked at the mess in the middle of the web and I cn tell it's a male. Just wants to get the job finished and then sit a chill

BTW what is the Palpi?

I think its the plural of something near the spiders gob. Like a pointy bit near its fangs / eyes.


I think.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by Dave The Rave

Actually it's a boy

Yes, I wondered about this, (it seemed rude to ask ), so I had a nose around and the internet said that it is indeed a Cross or garden spider, Lat; Araneus Diadematus, and also suggests that, considering the size of said Spider, I was photographing a girl. See here.
I estimate the length of the body to be approximately 15mm, couple this with two other spiders in the area being very similar but somewhat smaller would seem to confirm that she's a girly spider.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Did you step on it after?

Now that would have been bad manners.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Now that would have been bad manners.

Yes it would have... PJ loves the "incy'es", even goes to sleep with two.

that is some mint macro work there mate, which lens?

Originally Posted by Dave The Rave

BTW what is the Palpi?

Male spiders generally have lager/swollen Palpi towards the ends than females.
They're just like little hands, for feeding, mating, manipulating stuff etc..
Men have so much in common with male spiders lol.

I guess I was wrong regarding the spiders gender, thought Dave The Rave knew his stuff about spiders and swayed my decision, didn't know he was just going by it's man-like untidyness lol.
Looking at the pics again, then yeah, the Palpi don't look swollen enough for a male spider, some people compare them to boxing gloves they're that much more bigger than the females.
As you can see in Sids pics the Palpi are very slender,plus Sid had some of the same species to compare them to (which wasn't fair! lol).

Though with regards to Sids pics, they do look like real pro shots, very nice work, you should do more!!
You've got some nice skills with a camera mate!

The best thing I've ever seen with my own eyes (not photographed) was a Humming Bird Hawk Moth, in our back yard in Liverpool believe it or not, will never forget the day, nor the next day it returned.
Watched it feeding off the flowers, had a really long tongue, or Probosis (i think it's called) easily 2-3 inches long.
I love sitting outside studying insects, just watching them doing their stuff, sad I know lol.

That's cool that is.

[JediGoat]

Wow! Cool pics - even though I'm not a big fan of spiders.

Having said that though, I do allow one to live in the offside wing mirror on my bike - I get treated to a new web there every morning. You just gotta love a spider that chooses a motorbike for a home

Jo

brill pix Ian, i normal catch a fly and chuck it into the web,

i recon you could take some cool action pix of that

[Sid Squid]

Thanks all for the kind words, but it must be said that I just pointed the camera - Lady Spider did all the hard work.

Originally Posted by lylej

that is some mint macro work there mate, which lens?

Nikon D80, Nikkor DX 18-70mm (@70mm). Focusses to about 4", DOF is very short at that distance though, (as can be seen in the pics), I would have preferred to stop down to about F11 or so for a bit more DOF, light wasn't great though so at those sort of apertures the necessary shutter speeds were then to slow as the web moves a surprising distance even on a still day. Anyway, I'm pleased with the results.