First Attempt - _TNY_5632S4 - In Explore 14/11 2021
One species of spider which isn't rare at all, but still have eluded me, is the bridge spider (Larinioides sclopetarius), also known as the grey cross spider.
It's about the size of the European garden spider (ie the cross spider, Araneus diadematus) and very much like to build their webs under bridges, boat docks or jetties.
I think it's incredibly attractive and the markings on the back look a lot like a fleur-de-lies. My son suggested it was the boy scout spider because of it.
Anyways, despite it being common, I just haven't seem more than one or two - and then without a proper camera so this was special when I found several of them in their webs between the boats and the Y-beams separating them at the boat dock.
I probably looked a bit funny hanging out over the edge trying to get one in focus without scaring it off with just my legs on the jetty and the rest of me hanging out and down. Since I had the MP-E65mm on the camera, this shot was taken with less than 10 cm between the front of the lens and the spider. It's always the large diffuser which is the tricky thing to not hit the web.
Here it somehow worked out great as I managed four shots without moving in between so I could stack them and get more of the (female) spider in focus.
First Attempt - _TNY_5632S4 - In Explore 14/11 2021
One species of spider which isn't rare at all, but still have eluded me, is the bridge spider (Larinioides sclopetarius), also known as the grey cross spider.
It's about the size of the European garden spider (ie the cross spider, Araneus diadematus) and very much like to build their webs under bridges, boat docks or jetties.
I think it's incredibly attractive and the markings on the back look a lot like a fleur-de-lies. My son suggested it was the boy scout spider because of it.
Anyways, despite it being common, I just haven't seem more than one or two - and then without a proper camera so this was special when I found several of them in their webs between the boats and the Y-beams separating them at the boat dock.
I probably looked a bit funny hanging out over the edge trying to get one in focus without scaring it off with just my legs on the jetty and the rest of me hanging out and down. Since I had the MP-E65mm on the camera, this shot was taken with less than 10 cm between the front of the lens and the spider. It's always the large diffuser which is the tricky thing to not hit the web.
Here it somehow worked out great as I managed four shots without moving in between so I could stack them and get more of the (female) spider in focus.