If you go down in the woods today.... keep a look out for Nursery Web Spiders basking on flat leaves.  They lay in wait for passing prey and then leap forward and grab it. You may be forgiven for thinking that they have only got six legs but this species habitually rests with the front two pairs of legs alongside each other. They get their name from the habit of creating a cocoon in which the eggs are laid that is then surrounded by a silken tent which the female then guards tenaciously against all comers.

(Basil Thornton)

(James Lowen)

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Howard Vaughan, Information Officer