BIG Momma

Identification – Nephila Pilipes.

With not doing bug safaris for eight months, I find that I am woefully out of practice. My fitness is well down, my legs ache after all the up and downs of bug chasing. I have to think hard about the operation of the camera as it is no longer automatic in my mind. My observation skills are down. Also, the terrain has changed quite considerably, with new sections of the path having fallen into the stream due to storm flood erosion.

With the wet season being well underway, the vegetation is very lush and dense, a worry when you have to push through, after all, this is where Mr Attenborough comes for his holidays.

It was good to see that there are still a few pilipes (Blip) about. They are at the end of their short life and at their biggest now and very plump. I managed to walk into the web of this one as there were no farmers working the paddies today. They usually break up the webs across the path before I arrive. This momma was around eight inches toe to toe.

Dave