Anyone who reads this blog will know about my fascination with bugs, particularly spiders, and especially jumping spiders. However, I’ve had difficulties both finding jumping spiders and taking pictures of them (they tend to…well…jump away before I can catch them).

So I was elated when I saw this tiny (no more than 1/8inch long) spider in my kitchen. Although I wasn’t entirely sure I suspected it was a jumping spider and prepared to take a picture (luckily I’d left a camera with a macro lens in the kitchen). I’ve taken close up pictures of spiders from above, usually as they’re moving quickly away from me. So I haven’t managed to get a picture of them head on. This time I determined to do just that.

Strangely the spider didn’t seem inclined to run/jump away. It just stood there looking at me. Jumping spider have incredible eyesight and if you move say to the left they will reorient their body to follow you. The only other bug I’ve come across that does that is the Praying Mantis. The mantis doesn’t even move it’s body. It just turns it’s articulated head towards you – quite spooky. Anyway spiders don’t have articulated heads, so just turn their entire body. Still rather unnerving though.

It’s not the best picture I’ve ever taken, but I’m pleased that I finally managed to get a picture of a jumping spider, my all time favorite bug.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens

During my recent woodland walk I came across a man walking his dog. We chatted for a while and I asked him if I could take a picture. He agreed so here it is. The dog’s name is Wyatt. The man also gave me his name, but my memory for names is so bad that I can’t remember what it was.

Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon AF 24-70 f2.8 FE

Well…not really. Just my friend’s son’s dog, Reina (See Reina). She just loves to splash around in their pool. I believe there are eyes in there somewhere.

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

I came across this in my kitchen sink. A spider I thought, but then I looked more closely and noticed that it only had six legs. So some other kind of insect then. However, when I looked more closely I realized that it was supposed to have eight legs, but had apparently lost two of them. OK so it was a spider after all. I was wrong again. It is an arachnid, but not a spider. So what is it? It turns out that it’s something called a Harvestman and it’s more closely related to ticks, mites and scorpions than it is to spiders. How can you tell the difference? Well, spider bodies have two segments: a combined head/thorax and an abdomen. Harvestmen have a single body. Spiders also usually have eight eyes where Harvestmen only have two. Scientists have identified over 6,000 species of Harvestmen and estimate that there are probably over 10,000. They’ve also been around for a very long time: specimens have been found encased in amber that is over four hundred million years old, so I suppose they’re doing something right. This one had a leg-span (if such a word exists) of over three inches, but the body was only about 1/8 inch. Some people call them ‘daddy longlegs’, but that’s confusing as at least three different species are often called ‘daddy longlegs’: Harvestmen, Crane Flies (which are winged insects), and Cellar Spiders (true spiders).

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens