Sunday, April 22, 2012

Hanging around in autumn


Spoiler warning! Here's a friendly "shoo" for all those arachno-phobes out there. Do not proceed any further, spider photos below. OK, all the wobbly ones gone? Let us proceed.

I don't actually know much at all about spiders, except that my garden is a welcome haven for them, and autumn is peak season for them around here, and so I thought I'd show you three photos I took this morning.

The one thing I do know about spiders and gardens is that a garden with lots of spiders is probably a relatively healthy, organic, pesticide-free place, and so I see my spidery residents as good feedback for gardening the organic way. 


I don't have a clue about correct spider names or
anything, but this is Compost Guy/Gal. He/she hangs out
above our compost bin and presumably does a roaring
trade in the tiny insects attracted to the delicious 
aromas emanating from the compost bin.

Again, no clue as to its name, but as my garden
is forever leafy, there's never any shortage of building
materials for leaf-curling spiders.


This beautifully hairy brown spider currently has a
magnificent three-feet-wide web strung up between the
frangipani tree and a murraya hedge. Being biggish and
out on a wide web in broad daylight is a risky strategy 
(birds might see that fat little spider as a lunch snack) so this
person dashes out when a foolish fly/gnat or whatever gets
stuck in the sticky stuff, wraps it up neatly and quickly, then 
scuttles back to the fragrant comfort of its frangipani hidey hole.


I don't really know if there is any great purpose to this posting, other than to encourage you to love all the creatures in your garden. The more there are, even the scary ones, the healthier your garden must be, and the closer to nature you get every time you wander outside.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi jamie,

love that you're back and posting but your descriptions under each photo are so hard to read (writing is super tiny)!

Jamie said...

Thanks for that. It looked OK on my screen but then I looked at it from Firefox instead of Safari and you're right – it was super tiny! Hopefully I have fixed it now, and you can all stop squinting!
Jamie

Chookie said...

Beautiful pictures of beautiful creatures! I suspect your first pic is of a Golden Orb Weaver (look for yellow knees). The last is a Garden Orb Weaver. In my part of Western Sydney, we only seem to get these ones, not the Goldens.
The one in the middle, of course, is shy.

Anonymous said...

Hi jamie

I've just spent a very happy few minutes looking through your blog. I'm very new to blogs - in fact yours is the first one I've ever posted a comment to! I like the way it's set out and the way you write is very friendly and accessible - plus of course I love all the plants you describe in your garden and especially the spiders - since here in the uk we don't have such exotic ones! When I set up my blog (just looking at others for inspiration at the moment) I'll let you know - it will be interesting to see what's happening in each other's garden on the other side of the world!

Jamie said...

Good luck with blogging, Anonymous one, and do let me know where I can follow your adventures.

Anonymous said...

thanks for fixing the writing jamie! so much better now :D