Spiders

Over the last 3 or 4 weeks the garden has been taken over by spiders! They are everywhere, even one building a web across the back door leading to a sticky face everytime I go out. The most common variety seems to be the Garden cross spider (Araneus diadematus).

Yahoo! News had a headline article today explaining that the conditions for spiders were excellent this year.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090925/tod-britain-braced-for-huge-spider-invas-870a197.html

The article made mention of an organisation called Bug Life, their website has lots of interesting information about insects, spiders, etc including links to sites with good specimin pictures;

http://www.buglife.org.uk/

End of a dry spell

It's not rained significantly for at least two weeks. The silver birch has suddenly appeared stressed and many of the leaves have suddenly turned yellow.

The rhubarb also suffers if not watered regularly.

The crop of beans is reaching it's peak although there are still plenty of small beans growing so it could go on for some time.

A few bees are still visiting the salvia and I even spotted a late large white butterfly this morning. The grasshoppers are still chriping away.