Spider stories
Three whole days since I last saw Bertie (I worked over the weekend)... and today he looked huge. For a moment I wondered whether it was really him, but his mannerisms were the same and the web occupied exactly the same spot as previously... so I concluded my attentions of last week must be paying off.
I tossed him 4 more ants of which he took two to the center and package wrapped the others where they lay. He seemed slower than usual.. and I swear I could see his web buckling under his weight at the outer edge where one of the ants had lodged... he did seem to struggle so.
Whilst he was chewing the two, a midge flew into his web. He abandoned his meal - quiet neatly on a dangling thread - then in an uncustomary leisurely fashion went to deal with the struggling insect. He took it back to the center and with what seemed to me, with great gusto, as if he were partaking of some rare delicacy, he started on it. It was odd (for me) to see him tucking into this 'white' meat, I had only previously seen the shiny black remains of ants within his jaws...
He seemed to lose interest in ants after that. The two other ants I gave him did not even warrant a look let alone his special gift wrapping service. Last thing I saw tonight, the two packages he had wrapped much earlier had remained untouched.
Theres a thing, Tiny, who had had his web up and away to the right of Bertie last week today had a beautifully crafted web lower down.. obscuring at least a quarter of the flight path of his bigger neigbour behind and below him. Set me thinking about whether Bertie would a) find out b) do anything about it. Surely spiders must be territorial too.. Hmmm.. Tiny would most definitelty end up the looser here... if not dinner.
Though, Tiny did come out from undermeath his folded leaf to investigate, he seemed very hesitant around the 3 furiously struggling ants I put on his web (I don't blame him after his experiences last week).. After a few seconds he gave up and slunk back to his leafy hideout. I felt sorry for him at the time, especially as my efforts in procuring him ants did mess up his fine web with debris.. especially a fluffy under-feather, which must be a bugger to extricate from a web. Alas, an even greater disaster was to follow...
Did not see Miranda in her spot by the eucalyptus tree... her web, always untidy, seemed more ragged than usual with some pretty large holes. I did not make any effort whatsoever to entice her out.. just could not be bothered to try and catch those pesky, difficult flies - the only thing from recent experience that might work.
The garden was watered with a hose towards the evening (the girls bribed with the promise of extra pocket money into helping out)... this however led the to the following unforeseen circumstances:
Berties web survived more or less intact, looking lovely infact with droplets glistening in the evening half light... seemingly unappreciated by him, it must be said, as he lay soaked to the cuticle behind a leaf where he had taken cover....
As for poor tiny Tiny... all that remained of his wonderful web were two structural threads, one from his hideout leaf and the other from the oposite end - and the soaked fluffy feather in between, weighing the middle down...
I could not resist (cruelly I know), depositing lots of ants on this island... just waiting for him.. when he comes down to efect his repairs in the night...
