Both of us. She’s crabby because a) she’s a crab spider, and b) she hates me sticking a macro lens in her face, and I’m crabby because… never mind, it’s too boring. Tomorrow will be better.
Every time I pass the hydrangea I take a look to see if this little crab spider is still there; she’s usually to be found sitting on the front edge of this petal, waiting for something tasty and unwary to land, but as soon as she sees me she clambers round to the back, as she’s doing here, and flattens herself between the florets until I go away again. I’m intrigued by her choice of home: these spiders are able to change colour from white to yellow or green, and they usually choose yellow flowers so as to be able to disguise themselves and sneak up on their prey unseen. They can’t, however, turn themselves pink or blue, and she’s really quite obvious on this shrub – especially as it’s planted in semi-shade in the pear tree bed. Also, I virtually never see flies or hoverflies anywhere near these flowers, so I don’t think they’re especially attractive to the kind of bugs she might catch and eat.
Or just maybe I don’t see them because she’s an extremely good hunter…..
