Subadult Signature Spider

The spider shown above pretty much fitted my list of requirements. The only part that was not quite what I wanted was its position - rather too deep inside the hedge. As you can see, I did manage to take one picture. I was able to stick my camera into the foliage and pushed twigs and leaves out of the way to get a clear view. That was fine in broad daylight, but I was not so sure how I would get on after dark - I didn't fancy a friendly little nip on the nose from a little tree snake in the dark. However, I did not find a better target spider and went ahead with my preparations for a night session. The first thing I did was to tie a small yellow ribbon onto a twig, about two feet below the spider to make it easy to find in the dark. You can imagine my disappointment when I returned in the evening, all braced for a long observation and photo session and saw nothing, but some tiny traces of silk where the web had been - and, of course, no spider. That indicated only one thing, a predatory attack. Some hungry creature had eaten my spider. Nature is wonderfully interesting and sometimes breath-takingly beautiful, but it can also be brutal.