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05-05-2008, 09:23 PM
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Quote:
 orb spiders are all over the uk.This is the commonest large orb-web spider in gardens with a characteristic prominent cross or fleur-de-lis pattern of pale spots on the abdomen and banded legs. The garden orb-web spider makes large webs up to 40cm diameter, stretched across the foliage of bushes, trees and posts in gardens and at woodland edges. These are particularly conspicuous when bedewed or frosted in the autumn when the spiders are at their largest. When disturbed, this spider vigorously oscillates itself and the web, by strong rhythmical contractions of its legs. If severely disturbed, the spider drops from the web on a silk thread and, after lying still for a few minutes, climbs back to its original position. Young spiders have a globular yellow abdomen with a dark patch and, when newly hatched, they collect together in a closely packed mass of spiderlings. If disturbed these scatter wildly but soon reassemble when the 'danger' is passed. Spiders are unpopular with many people but they kill vast numbers of aphids and other garden pests and should really be appreciated for this useful function. Gardeners should remember that not a single one of them eats vegetable matter and so they cause no harm to plants at all Garden orb-web spider - Araneus diadematus - Natural England
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