So I was working in my garden the other day when I got caught on a guitar string. It really wasn’t a guitar string, it just felt like one. It was an anchor line of a spider’s web. A really really big spider’s web, so big the web stretched from my garden fence, which is about three feet high, to the top of a fifteen foot tree.
I couldn’t find the spider but I did notice the web had been ripped up as if maybe a bird flew through it or maybe a bird got caught in it and the spider bit the bird, wrapped it up in silk, and cut the bird from the web and dragged it up into the tree.
The thought made me a little nervous because I do work in the garden every day and I’d prefer not to get a spider of that size on me.
We have an awful lot of orb spiders in the yard this year, many more than usual. I don’t bug them, I just try not to stick my face in a web.
So a few days ago I made my husband come outside and feel the anchor lines. He was reluctant. He thought I was just being silly, but then he touched the lines and was flabbergasted - they felt like the strings of his guitar. Like steel thread or something.
Yesterday afternoon I noticed that the web had been entirely rebuilt. It was huge. Last night I grabbed a flashlight and made my husband accompany me out into the dark to find the spider. We did and we were both astonished.
The Lady, and you know she’s a she because the biggest spiders are female, is huge. Her body is about an inch and a half across. I don’t even want to speculate how big she would be with her legs extended. She’s a pretty pink and reflects light. My husband took a closeup photo and you can’t see much detail. She kind of looks like a gummy spider in the picture. I assure you, she is not a gummy spider.
This morning I got up and the web had been ripped apart again, no spider in sight. I hope she didn’t get eaten by a bat. In the photo you can see where a bird flew through the web. Cool huh?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Sure her name isn’t Charlotte?
Anny, I think it is her name! She’s out there spinning right now. Outstanding!
A Julipedia update, and a cool one too. Love these. Ishbel goes like a plucked chicken when she see’s spiders. Mind you doesn’t help that when we first moved into this house and I think it is the close proximity to the woodland (about 50 feet from our door) that we had tons of spiders and I informed her that at night when we are sleeping spiders sneak up your face and drink the moisture from the corner of your eyes!
That was twenty years ago, I think I still have the bruise.
Me I’m always photographing bugs, love them….
xxxxxx
Wow. As I was reading that I was silently praying, please let there be a pic. That is so cool. I don’t mind spiders at all. I can’t remember the last time I saw a web as big as the one you describe, a freaking bird flew through it, Oh God. Hopefully the spider is okay and can rebuild her web…if it’s not a dangerous spider that is.
OMG…That’s a huge web and spider. Just be careful, you never know how dangerous she is.
She is awesome! I miss my backyard spider. So far I don’t have one this year.
For those who worry, that type of spider isn’t dangerous at all. And as a bonus, they catch and eat zillions of mosquitoes and flies and other pests.
She is truly beautiful, Julia. We don’t have those types of orb spiders around here. The closest we have is a smaller, chunkier orange spider with odd protrusions that make them look vaguely crab-like. They build their webs much closer to the ground. They’re feisty and act ferocious, but again are completely harmless.
I don’t like spiders. I used to wake up standing over my bed in the middle of the night, pulling the covers off to look for the spider my dreaming self knew was in there. Entertained my husband greatly when we were first married.
If I walk through a web and don’t find the spider, I assume it’s in my hair. Or maybe crawling down my back. Or inside my shirt. It’s best if I don’t walk through a web.
When I walk in the woods, I carry a big stick and wave it in the air in front of me. Or let others go first.
She’s beautiful and amazing. We don’t have any so big here. I think the winters stunt their growth. I don’t mind spiders, but we’ve had several reports of Brown Recluse, and they’re scary.
Hi Stephanie! We get really big garden spiders here but not usually this big and not this color or species or whatever. Most of the time they are yellow and black. She’s very impressive.
Brown recluse are supposed to be shy, but when my son was little one actually ran after him. Black widows are quite shy and we have them here. I noticed a brown widow a few weeks ago and didn’t realize it was related.
Marie - you make me laugh. I used to be terrified of spiders. Now I follow a policy of catch and release. I kind of like it when I walk through a web while hiking because that tells me nobody has been on the trail yet. However, like you, I assume the spider is in my hair. Not a pleasant assumption.
I just love her, Jaye. I’m so glad she picked my yard. With her location I do worry a bat might get her. I figure she’ll lay eggs and we’ll get a bunch like her next year.
Hi Casey - she’s totally awesome. We have spider cycles here. Some years huge garden spiders, some years none. This is a good year.
Amber - she’s very shy. Only comes out at night and ignores us when we shine the flashlight on her.
Yes, D, a robin flew through it. I’m waiting for the day I find a bird rolling around in the grass covered with spider silk.
Just call me nature girl, Tom. And no more telling Ishbel scary stories. I worry far more about ticks!
Ohh wow..For some reason this year spiders are so active. I was out over the weekend and we were on a patio and so many spiders would come to the table or swing down.
We have lots of little spiders Savannah. All over the yard. Not in the house much.