What happened before the click...Photographers tell their story behind a special picture. This time: a spider spinning
The first time I met her she gave me a fright, but only the first time. Early one summer morning I was going to turn on my kitchen light and, still half asleep, I reached into a spider's web. There she was, a small garden spider that had spun its web just above my fridge. But it was love at first sight and my girlfriend and I were more than happy to share our flat with this eight-legged roommate – she was to prove very useful as we had a lot of insects coming into our flat that summer.
It was incredibly exciting to observe Hermine, as we named her, as she went about her daily life over the following months and to observe her up close hunting, moulting and building her web. Cross spiders, so called because of the pattern on their back, renew the inner part of their filigree wheel-shaped webs about every three to four days, always in the early hours of the morning. We were constantly fascinated by the precision shown by Hermine each time she went about this task.
When only a few insects got caught in Hermine's web in the autumn, we would bring her fruit flies from the pet shop to get her through the barren winter months and regularly spray a few drops of water into her web, which she also eagerly devoured. For a spider hibernating indoors, the risk of dehydration is greater than the danger of starvation.
The following spring, we decided, though with heavy heart, to take Hermine outside. She should have the opportunity to find a male and produce offspring. Since then, I have been quietly hoping that one of Hermine's ‘children’ will find its way back to our flat...
Christian Stielow has been working in press and public relations at EuroNatur since 2017. Originally a passionate ornithologist, but living closely with Hermine awakened his enthusiasm for arthropods. Instead of binoculars, he now often reaches for the magnifying glass and is constantly amazed by the sheer beauty of spiders and insects.