There are two recent reports that show the extremes of the UK’s conservation efforts. The first, this year’s Big Butterfly Count, reflects the decline in our insect populations, while the second, from the RSPB, shows how rapidly the situation can be turned around if we create the right circumstances.
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This is a jumping spider: Salticus scenicus, the zebra spider, so named for its black and white stripes.
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Spiders are not insects, they are arachnids, a family that includes harvestmen, ticks, mites and scorpions.ย
Three arachnids: harvestman, tick and scorpion
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Our in-house wildlife photographer, Simon Knight, obsesses about wasp spiders, Argiope bruennichi, strikingly beautiful immigrants from mainland Europe that are thriving as our island’s climate warms. Here are some of his pictures for Hallowe’en.
Check out Simon’s 2024 Southwick Nature Reserve calendar.
by Simon Knight
I have recently enjoyed a couple of early mornings in the reserve with my macro lens, and as I have said before, I really enjoy macro photography and hunting for the smaller in habitants of the reserve, especially on dewy, bright mornings.
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The reserve’s fields are full of spiders’ webs.
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By Simon Knight
After the water voles, my second favourite residents of the reserve are the wasp spiders. When July rolls around, I make it my mission to find my first wasp spider and this happened on 3rd July. She was in Village Green and very small, the youngest I had ever seen. I used what3words to record the location as my plan was to come back over the coming days to see how she progressed. I was hoping the long grass in Village Green would remain as the rest of the reserve had already been cut, but sadly the next day Village Green was also cut. No more wasp spider.ย
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There are funnel shaped webs low down in the dense vegetation of the park’s hedges and edges; what lives in them?
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Hallowe’en Greetings to all our arachnophobes from park resident, Agelena labyrinthica.
Header picture: Labyrinth spider by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0)
Video from: Animalia Kingdom – ลukasz Karnatowski
The breeding season of the reserve’s nursery web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) can extend well into September.
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Research has concluded that 42% of people are scared of spiders.
Read on for a little reassurance
The fields are full of spiders’ webs.
Continue reading “spider silk”
There are funnel shaped webs low down in the dense vegetation of the park’s hedges and edges; what lives in them?
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A nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis) photographed in the park by DKG on a dewy morning.
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Ian Bushell reports on cutting back the set-aside on the northern edge of Village Green with brush cutters.
Continue reading “Wet Wednesday cont.”
A nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis) photographed in the park by DKG on a dewy Sunday morning.
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There are funnel shaped webs low down in the dense vegetation of the park’s hedges and edges; what lives in them?
Continue reading
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 