The Lyons Share

Hope you don't mind massive hairy spiders! This is our biggest (joint with the Raft Spider) but this one is rare to boot. Today at a Sussex Wildlife Trust event hosted at Court Lodge Farm, I provided some pond dipping entertainment and was overjoyed to find this Fen Raft Spider in the first dip! Especially as three years ago I did a survey there and didn't find this species. I literally lay in the water to get these shots and this video of it cleaning itself. Enjoy!

But we also had some interesting bees on the legumes nearby including a female Long-horned Mining Bee, Andrena labialis and Bombus muscorum. What an amazing day!