Spiders.

In Autumn a male house spider faces the most important and dangerous journey of his life. His mission is to seek out a female spider. But to reach her he may have to risk his own life. For the past year he has lived on his web, its an architectural wonder. On tip toes, feathery hairs on his feet stop him from sinking through the web. But a flat footed fly will some become entangled once he has flown into the web. Once the fly in on the web the spider will pick up the vibrations with the sensitive hairs on his body, he then strikes. Venom injected by needle like fangs quickly subdues his prey. Powerful jaws and digestive enzymes soon break down the fly. This will be the spiders last supper, autumn has arrived and the urge to mate has become overwhelming. When the time is right he leaves the safety of his web. Now he must venture into an unknown land where a female house spider awaits. Out in the open the spider is exposed to predators like great tits. When he gets to the house, he`s confronted with a weird landscape.  A world away from his wooden shed and his web. He has to climb a huge wooden mountain,  a staircase. Its a long way up, but he can grip onto all of the cracks and crevices on the staircase. Just like us spiders need to drink so he is drawn towards the water in the bathroom. Into danger, if he falls into the water he could drown if he can`t get out. The water surface tension will keep him afloat for a while. Our baths and sinks are death traps to spiders, but a flannel makes it easier for spiders to get out safely. His hairs on his body and his exoskeleton do repel water, so after a good groom he will soon dry off. In a spare room a female spider has spun a web, as soon as the spider touches the web, receptors on his body sense the females pheromones, he must be careful though as she may mistake him for food. He begins a courtship dance, drumming his pelps and bobbing his ofisfoma. The female listens to the vibrations and is satisfied with the suitor. She allows him to approach, he uses his pelps to transfer his sperm. After mating he takes up residents in her web. But the danger isn`t over. A rival male may approach the web, you see the female stores sperm over the winter, she then fertilises the eggs next spring. So the first male will have to fight any intruders to make sure he is the father  of the off-spring. Each male could deliver a toxic bite, so it could be a fight to the death. But the rival spider is normally pushed away from the web. He will then return to the female spider, his mission is now complete and he won`t survive the winter. He has made sure that a new generation of his will appear next year.

Locating different animals.

Most of us only get to visit our local park or woodland during the day. The problem is a lot of British wildlife is nocturnal. So how can we tell what is going on in our woods when we are tucked up in bed? There are clues everywhere, first of all you can look for one of the most obvious ones, an animal trail. This could be a deer print in the mud which are called slots or a badger footprint. When you are looking you will probably come across domesticated animal prints as well(sheep,cows etc). What you really want is a number of different clues, then put them all together and you should know what you are trailing. Keep a look out for animal poo, some times (scat) animal excrement is hard to identify. Badgers are quite easy to recognise as they dig a little pit called a latrine and poo in the middle of it. Some poo has a characteristic smell.The smell is normally diagnostic of the animal, otter spraint smells like violets, pine martins smeel quite sweet and badgers poo normally smells woody. If you identify a badger set, look out for badger runs and you may be lucky enough to find a footprint. Once you have found all of the clues you should then be able to follow a trail, you can then see what the animal has been doing at night. I followed a badger trail the other night, first of all it trotted along sniffing from side to side, it stopped at a mole hill to have a root around or to eat an earth worm. It then carried on along the path until it went under a barbed wire fence, catching some hairs on it as it passed underneath. If you do find lots of signs from a certain animal, it may be a good idea to stake the area out at night time. You can then see if there is any activity while yoy are there, wait for a dark night when there isn`t a full moon.

Deer in the forest.

Roe deer are particularly numerous in the coniferous forests of northern Britain, but are shy creatures that will disappear into the trees if disturbed. They are most likely to be seen as they cross a forest ride. At about two years old a roe buck acquires a territory that he normally occupies for life. The size varies, and may cover between 12-75 acres. During spring and summer, the buck patrols of his territory, marking it by rubbing scent from his head glands against trees and fighting with intruding bucks. Roe does also have territories, but do not defend them. They often overlap with those of other does and several bucks. Deer of any species may cause considerable damage to trees by fraying bark when they clean their antlers, by breaking branches when they thrash with their antlers at rutting time and also by stripping bark to eat.  A tree`s growth may be distorted, and if bark is rubbed or stripped off all  round, the tree will die. Deer also browse on accessible shoots, large deer reaching as high as 6-7ft when standing on their hind legs. In commercial forests the damage can be serious and new plantations in traditional red deers areas are normally fenced off. All deer like to browse on the brambles that grow in clearings, with roe deer being especially fond of them.