spider

Walking with the hound this afternoon and making the most of still relatively mild weather before the heat sets in again.

Clumping through the bush we disturbed this little guy's web... and he is little about the size of a small finger's nail. While Astro flaked out in the shade, I spent some time watching the spider reel in the now trailing web and I imagine when we left it would re-spin it and hope to avoid great clodhoppers like us tramping around.

Well named as a Jewel (Christmas or Spiny ) Spider I'm guessing the colourful, spikyness of him (or her perhaps)would put most birds off viewing it as a quick snack.
In the family of Orb Weavers and so called because of the spiral wheel-shaped webs strung between two trees or bushes. Amazingly, depending on the purposes of the web radii they are made of sticky or non sticky silk.
The sticky for prey capture...not big galumphs like us though!