Wildlife Wednesday - garden spiders (with photo)

I have heaps of spiders in my garden, which I love but Mr E detests. I guess most of them are orb weaving spiders because they all have webs out in breezeways to catch unsuspecting insects...but I've really no idea what type of spiders they are.

If you're a regular reader, you'll know I'm not good at the identification part of wildlife. And when we get to the fine details, I'm hopeless.

But OMG, could I be right? I just did a Google search on orb spiders and the trusty Australian Museum site has a page on Garden Orb Weaving Spiders, you can find it here.

So, my spider doesn't look half as hairy as theirs but since there are over 100 species, maybe that's okay. My spider has the right body shape, and is about the right size (mine's probably only 1 cm not 2-3 cm), so I'm not looking too bad so far :) Maybe all these Wednesday posts have improved my skills!!

The good news is that these spiders are reluctant to bite. Now, that's good news.

But the little things only live for a year. During autumn little spiderlings hatch from eggs, build their webs and wait out winter. In spring they start to grow so they mature in summer, ready to mate and lay eggs (females anyway). Then the females die off in autumn.

So I should keep my tiny little spiders and their webs. Because in spring they'll start growing and making more spiders. Won't Mr E love that!!! :)