Day 24 of my Dark Dark Days of December Challenge – the best way to combat the winter blues – connect with the nature just outside your home

Under the waterproof cushion – an unexpected find

I was ready for a sit down in the garden. I had been for a walk, met up with friends for a long breakfast and then gone for another lovely walk. I was going to make a cuppa and sit down quietly for a few minutes and watch the little world of my wildlife garden go slowly by. I went to sort out the waterproof cushions I have on the bench in the garden. I turned over the first cushion and there was a handsome male spider sitting on the cushion.

Stripey legs and Pedipalps

This spider had wonderfully stripey legs, and was not in a hurry to go anywhere. I looked around the rest of the garden. Checking out the little pond snails that were all having a rest on the side of the pond. I then returned back and the male spider was still sitting on the cushion. Pedipalps there for all to see! Pedipalps are appendages male spiders have near their mouths. The function of pedipalps in spiders is to hold the sperm – so female spiders do not have them. Pedipalps look like little boxing gloves. If you see a spider with little boxing gloves hanging down it will be a male spider.

“It is the simplest things in life that are the most extraordinary” Paulo Cohelo

I have quoted this before and will no doubt quote this again – in my day to day life. I find peace and lose myself in the simple observations of nature. The more closely I look at the ecosystem in my front garden the more I spot. The tiniest of living organisms all intertwined and reliant on each other – a rich tapestry of life – just outside my front door. What a lucky human I am.