Sitting on a sunny bench in Kirstenbosch on Tuesday afternoon, watching Sunday devour a mielie and marveling at the yellowness of it in the late afternoon light, I casually glanced up and gahhhhhhhhhh!
Golden Orb Web Spiders. About a grazillion of them. Look. They're really beautiful.
I can't recall ever having noticed these ladies in Kirstenbosch before. And we go often. I wondered whether their being out in such force was seasonal, but after a bit of research it seems not, just that they're far more common in the Cape South Peninsula in the last few years than ever before.
They're not toxic (unless you're a small winged creature) and they get their name from the golden strands of their amazingly intricate webs.
While going through my photos I recalled Heather posting photos of spider webs in Kirstenbosch last year - here - and was interested to see it was more or less the same time of year when she took those.
It may be that the Golden Orb Web Spider doesn't spin her web in specific seasons, but some seasons just display them better.
I think this magnificent Autumn light in Cape Town brings out the best in all of us.
Get outside!
I remember! Light and spiderwebs are a great subject for the camera. Glad you got to spot them too. And happy birthday! Hope it was a good one.
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