The spiders have been waiting for the sun to come out. I’ve looked for them each day, missing their quiet presence. Now, like me, they are reaching out for warmth. I think how similar we are in responding to the heat of the morning.
These are zebra spiders (Salticus scenicus), a diminutive species that lives around our front door and south-facing windows, both inside and out. The wet summer has had them sheltering in silken retreats along the door jamb; now they have come out to sunbathe and to catch their prey.
First, some tentative legs edge around the door. Then a stripy spider slips out, her abdomen marked in bands of white and charcoal grey. I know it’s a female, since males are only found in spring and early summer. Also, males have elongated jaws like outsize droopy moustaches. They wave these around during courtship while doing a flashy sideways dance and wiggling legs and abdomen.
After mating, the female lays up to 25 eggs in a silk cocoon, guarding them for a month until they hatch – my reason for not cleaning the channel between door and frame.
Using closeup binoculars, I study the spider’s symmetrical patterns, made not of fur but of flattened scales, like those of a butterfly. In common with other species of jumping spiders, she has four pairs of eyes, ranged like headlights on an off-road vehicle. These can judge distance to accurately pinpoint prey.
Most of the time, the spiders skitter about with jerky movements, walking backwards with ease, despite having eight legs. Their prey of flies, mosquitos, other spiders and moths can be several times a zebra spider’s size.
I watch as the female traverses the warm wood of the door. When she spots a bluebottle, she freezes. The fly escapes but, had it not, the spider would have fastened a safety line of silk to the door before pouncing and injecting the bluebottle with venom.
Midday now, and the plants by the front door are also reacting to the heat. There’s the scent of cherry pie from the heliotrope and of honey from the bidens. I, the spiders and all of nature soak up the sun.
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