When it comes to creating what, to a Common Garden Spider, is simply a means to an end (ie catching your next meal), not all Araneus diadematus are blessed with equal skills in the actual spinning department. The effort above is a good example of a completed, but far from perfectly orchestrated web design….“10” for effort and a “9” for artistic interpretation (especially with the addition of the frost droplets), but points would certainly be withheld by the German judge when it comes to the technical category!

I know that there has been some research into why it is that some spiders are better at spinning webs than others and it’s known that web-building ability is dramatically affected when spiders are exposed to certain airborne chemicals, including various types of crop sprays, vehicle emissions and, not surprisingly, alcohol fumes! The web in the picture isn’t too bad an effort really and it’s still an infinitely more complex and detailed structure than even the very best human artist or design engineer could ever dream of creating! I took this photograph early this morning (21st December) so perhaps this particular spider, who’s still very active at the moment, had just one too many Babychams at yesterday’s office party!