I visited two separate locations today. The first was specifically to find a highly localised spider, not natural to UK, but now living here and there in southern Britain. It is more common in central and southern Europe. I found some living off the grasshoppers that frequented the long grass where the spider is living. It's the wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi, and here's a female tucking into a grasshopper. The male of this spider species is very much smaller.
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Here's a purple variant of the meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, a young male I think.
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I then went to a second location, which was a much more extensive natural meadow. It was full of wild flowers and interesting insects. There were lots of burnet moths. Here's a pair of 6-spot burnet moths, Zygaena filipendulae, mating alongside two empty coccoons, one of which also shows an empty pupal case.
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4. I think this is a dark bush cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera.
Finally here is the distinctive web of the labyrinth spider, Agelena labyrinthica, showing two entrance holes to the labyrinth where the spider waits.
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All shots taken on 40D with EF100mm f/2.8 macro, the first two with a diffused 580EXII, the other three in natural light.
