This week I'm looking ahead to the summer holidays, where we will no doubt have our fair share of budding pond-dippers. Now, I enjoy getting involved in all of our wild-guide activities, but I must admit to enjoying pond-dipping the best. I have a keen interest in what families and children catch when they pond-dip at Saltholme, and whilst everyone does a grand job catching fish, beetles and damselfly nymphs, there is one particular creature that has evaded capture for quite some time....
Now I know what you're going to say "eek! a spider!", and you would be right, it is a spider. To be more precise, it is a Raft spider, and it is a very skilled hunter indeed...
You may know that other spiders use their intricate webs to catch their prey - they can feel the vibration in the web when a fly gets caught up in it. Well, the raft spider employs a similar strategy, only using the surface of the water instead of a web. They use their front legs to detect vibrations made by insects moving around on the surface of the water (a whirligig beetle, perhaps). The raft spider can walk on the surface of the water (like a pond skater), and sneak up on their unsuspecting prey. They do all this without getting wet!
These raft spiders were found reasonably frequently at Saltholme, especially during Easter time. Since then, we haven't really seen them at all, which is disappointing. So this is an appeal for those who want to pond-dip at Saltholme this summer - please catch a raft spider for us! They can't hurt you, and thanks to the white/yellow stripes running down the length of their bodies, they are easy to identify, and quite handsome little brutes too.
Cheers,
Stephen