Andrew Douglas
@andydouglas1967.bsky.social
Spiders, inverts, botany, birds, wine, beer, food, pottery, aircraft. Not necessarily in that order. See @andydouglas1967-IT.bsky.social for IT/Computer Science stuff. West Norfolk and South Northamptonshire.
I was going to hit Boughton's Lower Fen today - more open reeds, a bit of a cut area, piles of cut reeds to look through. But there are still big areas of frost in the garden, and it isn't the most sunny area. Seems like the wrong thing to do. Had meant to go yesterday.
November 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I was going to hit Boughton's Lower Fen today - more open reeds, a bit of a cut area, piles of cut reeds to look through. But there are still big areas of frost in the garden, and it isn't the most sunny area. Seems like the wrong thing to do. Had meant to go yesterday.
I succumbed to a deal. I wouldn’t normally bother at home, but £20 for a dumpy tree as tall as me - I love a real tree and the decos just sit under the stairs most years. Cherry but need some spooky tv now.
November 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I succumbed to a deal. I wouldn’t normally bother at home, but £20 for a dumpy tree as tall as me - I love a real tree and the decos just sit under the stairs most years. Cherry but need some spooky tv now.
Death Star bauble.
November 24, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Death Star bauble.
Puddings on - three and most of one to do plus fried a bit to see how it tastes. Pretty good, despite burning it a bit. Might mix another batch and do three more.
November 24, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Puddings on - three and most of one to do plus fried a bit to see how it tastes. Pretty good, despite burning it a bit. Might mix another batch and do three more.
Stir Up Sunday. Make a wish everyone.
November 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Stir Up Sunday. Make a wish everyone.
This is neither here nor there, but I took a couple of wolfies that looked like they might be adult, but with obscured epigynes. Neither was adult, but using the Lycosidae key in Roberts, this wouldn't fit Pardosa. But it looks like Pardosa to me. Is that key not great or need some interpretation?
November 20, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This is neither here nor there, but I took a couple of wolfies that looked like they might be adult, but with obscured epigynes. Neither was adult, but using the Lycosidae key in Roberts, this wouldn't fit Pardosa. But it looks like Pardosa to me. Is that key not great or need some interpretation?
Ok, i think this one must be Palliduphantes pallidus rather than P.ericaeus? @britishspiders.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Ok, i think this one must be Palliduphantes pallidus rather than P.ericaeus? @britishspiders.bsky.social
Walckenaeria unicornis epigyne.
November 19, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Walckenaeria unicornis epigyne.
Micrargus herbigradus, female. Two washers on top of each other is deep enough for a whole (small linny) spider, at just less than 4mm deep. Two photos, at 100x and 40x.
November 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Micrargus herbigradus, female. Two washers on top of each other is deep enough for a whole (small linny) spider, at just less than 4mm deep. Two photos, at 100x and 40x.
I use a Garnier hand gel usually but they don't do it anymore and I think my ebay purchase might be fake, so I'm using the Cuticura, which is nice and thick, and recommended to me. The washers are from Amazon - not great, needed sanding to make them flat, but it seems to work ok.
November 18, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I use a Garnier hand gel usually but they don't do it anymore and I think my ebay purchase might be fake, so I'm using the Cuticura, which is nice and thick, and recommended to me. The washers are from Amazon - not great, needed sanding to make them flat, but it seems to work ok.
Micrargus herbigradus palp, taken using the new 'washer on a slide' method - dab of gel, palp, topped up with alcohol. Much clearer, you can't see the gel, and the 'curly appendage' that makes it herbigradus is visible amongst the curls of the embolus. This is slightly enhanced in GIMP.
November 18, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Micrargus herbigradus palp, taken using the new 'washer on a slide' method - dab of gel, palp, topped up with alcohol. Much clearer, you can't see the gel, and the 'curly appendage' that makes it herbigradus is visible amongst the curls of the embolus. This is slightly enhanced in GIMP.
The reason we’re here. Fab - much more new wave than I remember. Should get side 2 in before Strictly.
November 15, 2025 at 6:10 PM
The reason we’re here. Fab - much more new wave than I remember. Should get side 2 in before Strictly.
The only decent Duran Duran album before they went a bit shit. Not been played in 40+ years. More crackles than an open fire and more jumpy than a Salticid.
November 15, 2025 at 5:31 PM
The only decent Duran Duran album before they went a bit shit. Not been played in 40+ years. More crackles than an open fire and more jumpy than a Salticid.
In other news I bought a cheap deck to play my records. Technologically backwards but nice to hear again. Starting with a favourite (which I have digitally anyway.)
November 15, 2025 at 4:32 PM
In other news I bought a cheap deck to play my records. Technologically backwards but nice to hear again. Starting with a favourite (which I have digitally anyway.)
My latest wheeze, once I find some glue, is sticking plastic nylon washers to microscope slides, to hold palps and spiders. Not as deep as a tube lid, a dab of gel, a palp, then alcohol on top. We’ll see what happens. Had those slides for over 20 years!
November 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
My latest wheeze, once I find some glue, is sticking plastic nylon washers to microscope slides, to hold palps and spiders. Not as deep as a tube lid, a dab of gel, a palp, then alcohol on top. We’ll see what happens. Had those slides for over 20 years!
Ooh - just arrived. Looks good. The first of the three books I ordered and paid for half a year ago. Not that I ever go to Yorkshire these days.
November 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Ooh - just arrived. Looks good. The first of the three books I ordered and paid for half a year ago. Not that I ever go to Yorkshire these days.
Last of the polytunnel peppers. Small Poblanos and Beaver Dam, which are the same species but with a kick. Would have made good Chipotle if I could be bothered to process, I suspect. Some for tonight’s Texas chilli, rest for freezer.
November 15, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Last of the polytunnel peppers. Small Poblanos and Beaver Dam, which are the same species but with a kick. Would have made good Chipotle if I could be bothered to process, I suspect. Some for tonight’s Texas chilli, rest for freezer.
This is the same but slightly enhanced using GIMP - sharpened and contrast shifted. You still can't see the 'wiggly' bit that makes this Micrargus herbigradus. The gel has distorted the light and also gone slightly opaque. I'm not sure where to go with it, now.
November 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM
This is the same but slightly enhanced using GIMP - sharpened and contrast shifted. You still can't see the 'wiggly' bit that makes this Micrargus herbigradus. The gel has distorted the light and also gone slightly opaque. I'm not sure where to go with it, now.
Update on the handgel for holding/covering specimens under the compound scope. Still no good. I bought 6 bottles of the Garnier gel but either it's a different recipe, or the bottles don't contain what they say they contain. Optical qualities pretty rubbish. Have diluted but no real improvement.
November 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Update on the handgel for holding/covering specimens under the compound scope. Still no good. I bought 6 bottles of the Garnier gel but either it's a different recipe, or the bottles don't contain what they say they contain. Optical qualities pretty rubbish. Have diluted but no real improvement.
Also from Dersingham wood, leaf litter, Tenuiphantes flavipes and Agyneta rurestris. There were other things. I'd never seen Drapetisca socialis, which we saw a few of, and in the bog, Hypsosinga cf pygmaea and Tibbelus sp, and an odd black and white job under a log (probably a dark Pachygnatha.)
November 10, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Also from Dersingham wood, leaf litter, Tenuiphantes flavipes and Agyneta rurestris. There were other things. I'd never seen Drapetisca socialis, which we saw a few of, and in the bog, Hypsosinga cf pygmaea and Tibbelus sp, and an odd black and white job under a log (probably a dark Pachygnatha.)
An odd one from yesterdays trip to Dersingham Bog. Took ages for the moss folk to get to the bog proper, but here's a presumed Zygiella sp on what was a smooth-ish tree, with nest. Well, I wasn't expecting it there, anyway. Maybe it's a thing, I don't know. Not many bushes nearby but a lot cleared.
November 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
An odd one from yesterdays trip to Dersingham Bog. Took ages for the moss folk to get to the bog proper, but here's a presumed Zygiella sp on what was a smooth-ish tree, with nest. Well, I wasn't expecting it there, anyway. Maybe it's a thing, I don't know. Not many bushes nearby but a lot cleared.
Tasting the umeboshi Sloes. Fruity and not too salty - very pleasant indeed. Not sure what you’d do with it - with rice perhaps?
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Tasting the umeboshi Sloes. Fruity and not too salty - very pleasant indeed. Not sure what you’d do with it - with rice perhaps?
First time looking through the 15x eye pieces at spiders from Sweet Briars. Bathyphantes approximatus female, easy to see. 67.5x on zoom. Much better.
November 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
First time looking through the 15x eye pieces at spiders from Sweet Briars. Bathyphantes approximatus female, easy to see. 67.5x on zoom. Much better.
And here is what is left of Caldecote fen, just a bit up the road. There's a bridleway along the edge and it is no longer a SSSI. There's also Stoke Ferry fen, which I know as it's near the viaduct of the Wissey over the cut off channel - I used to walk round to it, but not accessible by road.
November 4, 2025 at 7:40 PM
And here is what is left of Caldecote fen, just a bit up the road. There's a bridleway along the edge and it is no longer a SSSI. There's also Stoke Ferry fen, which I know as it's near the viaduct of the Wissey over the cut off channel - I used to walk round to it, but not accessible by road.
Here's the lower fen - not a SSSI. I didn't get a photo of the higher fen as I wasn't quite sure which bit of land was it.
November 4, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Here's the lower fen - not a SSSI. I didn't get a photo of the higher fen as I wasn't quite sure which bit of land was it.