Orb Weaver

When I saw this spider, I had just come home from a long picture taking session on the farm and wanted to relax with a nice cup of coffee. I walked into our terrace and immediately spotted the spider, obviously busy building its web on the metal grill. Well, I had my camera in my hand and couldn't resist a few more pictures. Then it all went wrong. When I saw a perspective that I liked, I raised the camera up and looked into the view finder only to see that the spider was now in a different position. To get the shot I wanted, I now had to go out of the terrace and walk round into the garden. Of course, you know what happened next. When I got there, it was back to its original position and I had to go back into the terrace. This happened a few more times before I accepted defeat and the result is what you can see. A handful of pictures, none of which is much good for identification. I am sure that many of you have had such experiences and know exactly how it felt. When I eventually had a good look at my rather useless photos, I thought that something must have happened to this spider. I don't think it was injured, but it looks like it had been given a haircut but a crazy barber. I have no idea what could have caused the strange "cropping" of the hair on the carapace, if that is what can be seen in the photos. I'm just not sure.