Nursery spider
Another spider often found wandering in grasses is the nursery spider.
The female lays her egg sac in the early summer and wraps it in silk. She then carries this white ‘ball’ of wrapped eggs to a suitable spot where she binds grass stems together using her silk to form a protective dome. She deposits her egg sac under the dome and stands guard over it until the babies have hatched and gone – hence her name.
The slightly smaller male normally presents her with a silk-wrapped prey item during mating just in case she might be hungry and decides to eat him instead.
Pisaura mirabilis
Photo credit: Tone Killick
