Look Away, Arachnophobics!

It seems to be quite a week for invertebrates. Look what I nearly walked into in my front yard today:

Actually that picture is on its side, so tilt your head 90 degrees to the left to see what I saw.

This is a golden orb weaving spider (Nephila sp.). The web is over a metre across, and the supports stretch much further than that. I couldn't get around to the other side to photograph the top of her, but here is a side view of the spider and some of the bees she has caught. (If you enlarge the picture, you can see that the silk is a golden colour - thus the name.)

I wonder if she can eat the bees at the rate she is catching them - she had four last time I looked, plus many smaller insects.

I'll have to try and photograph something pretty tomorrow!