Got distracted whilst out to take pics of the cats....

[Johanna Turner]

Some natives

I think the first ones are of a male trying to impress a female, she obviously wasn't impressed coz she shot off not long after! lol

[Daniel Carpenter]

Amazing pictures....and this made me remember...i went down the beach the other day and right in the middle ( stone beach not sand ) were loads of spiders dont know what species or nout just that they were black and very fast. Cant seem to find any info on them but i am struggling to even think where do they live ( coz they were on tide line ) so they must be always on the move...i dont know just wondered whether any one knows???
Dan.

[Colin D Wilson]

Jo, the top set of pics are Pardosa Proxima, very common throughout southern Britain, and yes it looks like you had a male (left) trying to do his thing (notice the large palps in pic 2 doing semphore)
The last picture is a mystery at the moment, not seen a colouration like that, could be an imature P bifasciata.

Dan (had to look this one up to get names right) you probably have Pardosa agricola forma arenicola (species redescribed in the early 80's i believe) they're found on shingle beaches in southern Britain. They have been fairly uncommon throughout though, so a lucky spotting

[Johanna Turner]

Jo, the top set of pics are Pardosa Proxima, very common throughout southern Britain, and yes it looks like you had a male (left) trying to do his thing (notice the large palps in pic 2 doing semphore)
The last picture is a mystery at the moment, not seen a colouration like that, could be an imature P bifasciata.

Dan (had to look this one up to get names right) you probably have Pardosa agricola forma arenicola (species redescribed in the early 80's i believe) they're found on shingle beaches in southern Britain. They have been fairly uncommon throughout though, so a lucky spotting

That last one was a lucky pic because the little thing was running like mad across the garden so I only just managed to keep the camera on it for that one picture!

These things seem to love my garden though beause there are HUNDREDS of them!
On a sunny day they are everywhere and it's like an assault course trying to walk without squishing hundreds of the little things.
I find then all sat 'en mass' basking in the sun!

Great to watch though!

[Colin D Wilson]

Have trawled through books and the net regarding your photo (last picture) and i've come to the same conclusion, 90% sure it's a Pardosa Bifasciata, immature male colouration (The three bands on carapace are more distinct than in the female, the abdomal dorsal colouration is more mottled in your pic but would be a solid brown when matured).

We hit a slight problem here, distribution maps show it to be absent from Britain.
Now.... in the 80's it was absent from Germany, France and Belgium, but has, in this century, been observed and described in these parts of europe.
There's a distinct possibility it may have used the ferry to cross over and set up home in sunny welsh wales as it were.

best option is catch one, find someone who knows 100% (not 90% like me) and if it is one, get your name in the book. if it's not one...blame it on this idiot Colin in Loughborough.

[Daniel Carpenter]

Very intresting cheers colin ....i only was a few but it was them for sure....
Dan.

[Johanna Turner]

Have trawled through books and the net regarding your photo (last picture) and i've come to the same conclusion, 90% sure it's a Pardosa Bifasciata, immature male colouration (The three bands on carapace are more distinct than in the female, the abdomal dorsal colouration is more mottled in your pic but would be a solid brown when matured).

We hit a slight problem here, distribution maps show it to be absent from Britain.
Now.... in the 80's it was absent from Germany, France and Belgium, but has, in this century, been observed and described in these parts of europe.
There's a distinct possibility it may have used the ferry to cross over and set up home in sunny welsh wales as it were.

best option is catch one, find someone who knows 100% (not 90% like me) and if it is one, get your name in the book. if it's not one...blame it on this idiot Colin in Loughborough.

Ok, great, but who would I get in touch with to find out for sure??

[Colin D Wilson]

I think the royal taxonomist society has representatives at Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum.
I've based all this on one photo, it's a good clear photo showing what needs to be shown, i.e. a dorsal view.
all i can say to support my "theory" is i've never seen one like that and the closest i can come, after a few hours of research, is this species not found "as yet" in UK.
Came across a few "nearly there" species but shapes, proprtions, patterning were not constant.

Hope i'm right, Pardosa Bifasciata spp McMullen

[Johanna Turner]

Hope i'm right, Pardosa Bifasciata spp McMullen

Hahaha, doesn't really have a very good ring to it does it! Lol!

Ok then, the budding spider spotter in me will most likely be out in the garden this weekend snapping away to see what pics I can come up with -I'll send you some and we'll have a look.

What references do you use to look these things up?

[Colin D Wilson]

I have several books dating back to the early 80's regarding british spiders, some of the web resources i use are

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/spider.htm

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/s/spiders.htm

For new books to order (direct links to spider stuff, they have other ecology sections that i use for reptiles mammals etc)

http://www.ceh.ac.uk/products/publications/BritishspidersArachnidaAraneaeVolumes12.html

http://www.nhbs.com/british_spiders_volumes_i_iii_tefno_140343.html

and the main thing, 30 odd years of being out and about in all weather with a camera, snake hook, lots of little pots and bags and a sense of adventure.