Spiders

SPIDERS AND FLIES

In Kilmore we have had some beautifully mild days this week. The plentiful rain of spring and early summer has left plentiful growth in the forests and in the paddocks.

Kilmore and surrounds are a picture at the moment. As the weeks have progressed, the grass has turned a glowing gold colour, and despite the ever-present worry about fire, the paddocks and bush look beautiful.


I have walked many kilometres these last few days. There is  plenty to see; birds, flowers, new growth on trees, frogs, lizards, kangaroos, echidnas, ants, spiders and so much more.




















It is the spiders however, that seem to fill the landscape at the moment, not so many last week, but this week, they are everywhere.

 

I visited three areas of bush recently, Monument Hill in Kilmore, Goldie Reserve towards Lancefield and Mt Piper, to the South of Broadford. Each of these sites is within fifteen kilometres of the others and each was heavily colonized by these little spiders.

The webs are hung across every gap, between trees, along wire fences and stretching from the ground to the low branches of trees. The strands of web are very thick and quite strong. Some of the webs were so close to each other that they overlapped. The poor flies and moths must have a tough time avoiding them when out and about.

In the centre of each web is a brightly covered little spider. Each looks as though it has been painted with white cake icing from a piping gun.With six sharp and prominent spines,  identification is quite simple.

They are named, quite logically, Six-spined Spider. (Gasteracantha minax)