These spiders eat insects, their own webs, and... each other!

Common Garden Spiders are easily recognizable by their white cross-shaped markings. They’re a type of orb spider, meaning they weave circular webs – and eat them daily, to prevent accumulation of debris, before making a new one! The web catches insects, including many considered pests by gardeners, such as mosquitoes and greenfly (Aphid). Garden spiders in turn feed larger insects, birds, and other spiders.

Mating has its downside for male common garden spiders – the much larger females tend to eat them afterwards! Some males mate with recently molted females to avoid this happening – females are generally less aggressive immediately after molting, when their exoskeleton is soft and pliable.

Female spiders secrete egg sacs by wrapping eggs in silk, forming a ball-shaped protective pouch, which she carries until she dies in the autumn. The eggs remain protected within the silk until May, when the young spiderlings emerge in a mass bundle.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee