Tying up the flowering fennel stalks in the garden recently, I suddenly became aware of this dark blob near my face. Close inspection revealed it to look like a spider, very well camouflaged in the fennel fronds, its long spindly legs a similar thickness to the fennel foliage.

The back end of the summer seems to be the season for spiders – the more you see the more you notice. I’m not really into arachnid identification, but the very long legs suggest this is a harvestman?

And if its a harvestman, it’s not a spider, but another sort of arachnid called opiliones. These are apparently sometimes colloquially referred to as ‘daddy longlegs’, but for me ‘daddy longlegs’ is the large type of crane fly, frequently seen flying around at a similar time of the year, often getting into our house.

Here’s a more detailed pic in case anyone can enlighten me further.