Food Webs
Getting caught up in the garden
It is hot. Hotter than it should be at this time of year. Or hotter that it used to be. We are entering a different world now.
I water by hand, carting around a big watering can and checking each plant as I go. I apologise to the spiders for disturbing them. They ignore me — or maybe answer in tiny spider voices much too small to hear.
Two young Golden Orb Weavers (Nephila) have set up shop between the electricity meter and the potted conifers. A tiny but spectacular Jewel Spider (Gasteracantha) had spun its web on the Norton Oak (Helicia nortoniana, Proteaceae), but has now shifted down to the Mountain Blush Walnut (Beilschiemdia collina, Lauraceae). I am not sure what prompted the move. A better neighbourhood, perhaps. The Walnut’s leaves are big and glossy; those of the Oak are small and spiky.
Any insects trying to settle on the potted plants have to run the gauntlet of overlapping webs. And if they do somehow make it past these Mission: Impossible traps, there is one more peril waiting.
