Working the Nightshift....

Hello Dhaaarlings...

My  gardens at "The Palais"  have been invaded 

By these little Darlings... 

Photo by Princess

Well they're not so little really...

they are known as the "Golden Orb Spider"

Read more about them Here

And Don't Panic! I'll admit that they are scary looking... but are really quite harmless to humans... Not so if you are a small insect of the flying kind! Then you are viewed as a meal...


During the day they sit there hanging completely motionless right in the centre of their web... until an unsuspecting bug just going about it's own daily business finds that it has suddenly come to a screaming halt.


Then.... Like lightening the spider pounces.... and before the bug knows what has happened it finds itself suspended in a new silk wrapper hanging like a bauble from a Christmas tree.

The spider becomes busiest at night... Like fisher folk mending their nets...


 Working through the long dark night repairing their damaged web in readiness for the next days haul of bugs and critters...

Photos by Princess

Photo by Princess

The nocturnal meanderings of the Female Golden Orb Weaving Spider

I find them fascinating to watch while they work

I always wonder how they decide where the next strand of silk will go and how do they work out which part of the web needs repair?

Photo by Princess

Photo by Princess

This is what the female looks like in the day light... Her body alone is about 3-5cm long and this does not include her legs!

She has been... up until today... surrounded by about eight or nine smaller male golden orb spiders. 


The males are only about 1 cm long in total length... including their legs... rather puny and insignificant in comparison to her rather ample proportions. 

Photo by Princess

I think that the female spider is of a similar opinion herself...

Why? I hear you say...

Well on my inspection this morning the other males had gone... (presumed eaten) with only one very brave but looking much worse for wear... male staggering about with a few missing legs...

you might be able to see the male just near her back leg in the photo above

Photo by Princess

the web itself is quite a large and intricately woven contraption

Photo by Princess

They get their name from the yellowy silk that they release from their spinneret's as they create these incredible webs ...

With some species' the webs are strong enough and large enough to trap small birds...

Fortunately not the ones in my garden!

 They are quite content to consume insects which they wrap in neat little parcels and hang in a line down the centre of the web... 

The web shimmers golden in certain light

They fortunately... will not be around for much longer... the days are becoming shorter and the weather cools through Autumn on it's way into Winter.

While they have been around they have been quite helpful in decreasing the local population of flies and mosquitoes...

And that darlings is a good thing...