Spider catches moon

Caught this surreal shot of the spider in the doorway with the full moon behind her last night.

Spider time

It's that time of year again when you can't go out without breaking the webs that industrious spiders have spun during the night with no regard for us blundering humans. This particular one has chosen the place where the patio doors open and has pitched her web right were anyone over 5 ft 3 ins puts their head through it. My partner, being 6 ft, has particular problems. Last night we used the flash to get these shots of the web's owner. I never realised that garden spiders had such bristly legs. She really needs to borrow my razor!

Monster spider

This truly is the biggest house spider I've ever seen. Good job I'm not scared of them. (Well, just a little, when they start to scuttle across the floor like a mouse.) I managed to hold the tape measure in one shaky hand whilst clicking the shutter with the other.

I first noticed him in the room all the coats and boots are stored in, and had a nasty fantasy that he or she might take up residence in my welly, or my coat pocket. Then this morning the beast had migrated to the kitchen and spun itself a hammock-like web. We have a big party here this coming weekend, and if Big Spid hasn't moved on by then, we'll have to rent a fork lift truck!

Spot the Sparrow Competition!

How many can you see in this photograph? I took it yesterday, when the whole flock were sitting on the hedge, having hoovered up all the crumbs off the lawn. No prize offered... sorry about that!

Heron on the roof

My partner glanced out of the window and saw this heron perched on the roof a couple of houses away. What a stately bird!

Four foxes

We've got used to seeing two slightly mangy young foxes in the garden (I'm treating them with the homeopathic fox drops) but last night we were visited by four. The first one came right up to Flad as he sat guarding the leftover fish and chips. Flad stood his ground, but the hungry fox was determined to get some dinner down him so in the end Flad plodded off and sat on the deck watching the action.

A third fox, with no mange and a beautiful coat - it also had an attractive face with black speckles on the white fur - hovered around but was less pushy than the original two and didn't get a lot of food. Then, to our surprise, a very small cub appeared but was too nervous to dash in and grab a chip. I'm wondering if they are all siblings, with the small club being the runt of the litter.

This is the smallest cub.

Magpie antics

When we put the fatball feeders out, we thought only the tits would be interested. To our surprise, we've had sparrows and robins on them, too. Then a big flock of starlings moved in and, after watching them, the magpies decided they fancied a nice peck of seed-studded suet, too.

They were getting through far too many fatballs and not giving the little birds a chance, so we moved the feeders to places where we thought the larger birds couldn't reach them. But, as you will see, this magpie decided it wasn't going to give up without a struggle. It sat on a twig and tried to work it out.


It figured that if it turned the twig into a trampoline, it might just bounce high enough to reach the suet. What happened? Well, after a view attempts, it fell off. I'm sure it will be back, though, for another go.