🕷 Spiders are not my favorite animals in the world. I'm not really scared of them, but I don't really like them in my house.
But in my garden they are very useful! Spiders are important for maintaining balance in ecosystems because they feed on insects like flies and mosquitoes. And especially the last ones are the insects I really hate 😀

Over the years I've photographed a lot of spiders, both at home as during my holidays. In this post I'll give you an overview of the spiders I captured (an cam that is 😉).

European garden spider (Araneus diadematus)

The following spider is an European garden spider (Araneus diadematus). This species is also known as cross spider.
These spiders are quite common here in The Netherlands. Especially during fall you see them everywhere. The photo below was taken on a sunny autumn day What I really like about the shot is that you can see through it's body.
The photo below is my entry for the Qurator's Photo Quest of this week!

You don't have to question yourself why it is called the cross spider since you can clearly see it had a nice cross on its back. Often during fall I can see multiple spiderwebs in the bushes and trees since they are orb-weaving spiders.

Araniella cucurbitina (Cucumber Green Spider)

The following spider is also fairly common in the Netherlands. But despite of that I only discovered my first Cucumber Green Spider last year. Because of their green colours they are quite difficult to spot. They also make webs, but in contrast to the cross spider the cucumber green spider often can't be found in their web. They do stay close so they can catch their prey when they get trapped in the web.

Ground Spider

Another common spider is this ground spider. You can often find them on the ground (duh), but also in garages or sheds. Their body looks soft and cuddly, but I rather have them outside instead of indoors.

Daddy longlegs (Opiliones)

I spotted this creature in the park once. I thought it was a spider, but it's actually a harvestmen. They are arachnids like spiders but differ in several ways.
They have a single, fused body segment instead of two distinct parts and lack venom glands and silk-spinning abilities. But I think you get why I thought it was a spider.

Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

This spider I also spotted in The Netherlands. I was making a walk on a path in between a forest and an corn acre when I spotted this beautiful Wasp spider. It also made me think a bit of a tiger. The pattern is really cool.

The spider had many (pretty big) flies in its web which it was wrapping in cobweb.
It isn't really visible on the pictures, but Wasp spiders make zig-zag pattern cobwebs.
Another interesting fact is that the male, which is smaller than the female, is often eaten by the female afterward because they provide her with energy for egg production. Quite nasty!

Tarantula

I don't really like large spiders, but I definately don't like tarantulas. But they do intrigue me. I photographed this fella during a trip in Ecuador. Long ago my wife and I made a trip to the amazon. In one of the villages we visited there was a tarantula on the ceiling. It was approximately 10-15 centimeters long. I had my zoon lens, so I could safely take the shot without disturbing him. Just look athe those hairy legs.
I can't imagine why people hold these spiders as a pet.

A bit later on the trip we had a short walk with a guide in the forest. He stopped and pointed at a curled up leaf. He said it was interesting, so we also stopped and watches. As he unrolled the leaf, a 'small' tarantula appeared. We were so surprised. It's amazing to have a walk with a nature guide that knows a lot about the environment.
We did skip walking through the bushes the rest of our holiday since then 😄

I hope you enjoyed my collection of spiders.

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FriendlyMoose

Creating blogs about photography, cycling, gardening, craft beer and more...

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