I was about to brush off a single strand of spider web silk stretching across the drive to the car, when I noticed this attractive, unusually coloured little spider sitting at the car end of the thread. This presented an opportunity to try out the macro facility on my Panasonic TZ80 travel zoom, which I use so little that I can never remember how when an opportunity presents itself.

The sun was highlighting the spider’s unusual yellow-green colouring, and the pictures turned out not too bad, considering the camera was hand held, and there was a breeze moving the web about.

It turns out this is a Green Orb-Weaver Spider, one of the interesting family of orb-weaver spiders.

This particular spider was only a few millimetres long, so the macro facility has acquitted itself quite well, as you can see in the enlarged image. Note the characteristic red spot on the underside – as it happens it was upside down.