The cucumber spider

This stunning spider is a mature male Araniella curcubitina, commonly known as the cucumber spider.  I almost squashed him as he was crawling over the handle of my trowel when I went to pick it up.

His palps are swollen, so that means he is mature and on the hunt for a female to mate with.  I took him in and photographed him, then put him back in the greenhouse and left him to it.

I haven't seen any female cucumber spiders in there, however they do have small, untidy webs, so they could be at the back of the shelves.

I cannot get over how attractive this spider looks.  I got out the x10 lens to have an even better look, and he was very good and stayed still for a while.

I've just finished Kipling's The man who would be king.  I'd seen the film, but never read it before.  It was really good.  I might go back and read some more Kipling.  I used to devour his stuff when I was a kid, but I think it was all in the children's versions, and so probably cut and abridged.

Well Downton Abbey has finished.  I watched them all, and though I did thoroughly enjoy it I do think it was less good than the first series - but then that was a hard act to follow.