I Spy

This morning I back blipped a Roman Snail for yesterday and then had a very productive and satisfying morning. So I decided to have an hour looking for what's new at Panshanger Park mid afternoon. The butterflies soon caught my eye: Red Admirals amongst them but I couldn't catch them with the camera.

As I chased them through the long grass I noticed firsts huge number of blue damselflies and then lots and lots of thick white webs. On closer inspection I saw they contained Labyrinth Spiders, Agelena labyrinthica.

The head and body is nearing 2cm long and they're very timid, scuttling I to their funnel web as I approached. According to uksafari.com, "Further down the funnel is a labyrinth of tunnels which gives this spider its name", and deep inside that are the spiderlings (not that they were visible in the grass).