Ruud Kleinpaste: Winter movements with silk

Before we lose our Winter Scenes, it might be an idea to get up at sunset and look around your garden (or a nearby forest, if you like). Spiders are in many places, despite the cold, icy conditions. The best time to see their “websites” is on dew-laden mornings – the owners are nearby and await the rising of that wintry sun. 

Spider silk glands have liquid proteins called spidroins. They're actually kind of gooey and are pressed out gently to form silk. It’s strong, yet light and flexible – a fabulous building material that serves many purposes. Those webs have sticky and non-sticky strands of silk, so the spider can walk on them without getting stuck themselves. 

Websites can be incredibly fascinating in the way the spider builds them – this sheetweb is extremely strong and contains silken supports above and below the sheetweb’s “trampoline”. If a moth or beetle flies over the web and accidentally hits the guy-ropes, the poor insect loses its balance and ends up on the silken trampoline.  

In no time the spider works out where the prey ended up and dinner is served! 

But winter finds that spectacularly weird phenomenon, known as “gossamers”. Small websites in conspicuous places, often made visible by fog or fine rainfall. The spiders usually hide under their web and grab overwintering insects (often very small critters), which sustains them and allows them to grow. If weather allows, they will “balloon” with a soft wind and disperse to new living quarters.  

But if their massive living place suits them for a little bit longer, they just stay in their dwelling.  

In spring, huge numbers of small spiderlings will take to the sky in large numbers of flying Arachnids, who don’t even have wings! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be Rude climb passes. Of course our man in the garden,
he's with us this morning, kilder rude.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Jack. Is everything going all right in your house?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Not two bad things despite the flooding this week. Yep,
things have been okay. Otherwise the gardens and good neck.
I put strawberries in. You'ld be pleased to hear ye
strawberries around peace straws down. So we're organized on that front,
which is which is good. Although it is still pretty
cold I would say unusually cold in England at the moment,

(00:43):
like it almost feels sort of like proper South Island cold.
But anyway, hopefully things too much. Yeah, but you're focusing
this morning on some winter movements with silk at this
time of year.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well there are you're talking about being cold, that's right
this morning here too, we've ended up with the frost,
especially on the on the lower areas of christ Church
and and and it's called to see what happens in
frost because there are certain little spiders, native spiders that
have little websites everywhere, you know, on the lawns, and

(01:16):
on all sorts of places in your garden, and you can.
And here comes to thing. When you wake up in
the morning and the sun comes up and there's still
kind of frozen, you get this amazing if you like,
you call it a gossamer of silk that becomes literally
frozen and speckled with droplets of ice and water. And

(01:40):
a lot of people miss that. If you don't get
up early, you won't see that. They're just amazing to
see that. Now, those creatures, they make websites, of course,
because websites are the things they catch their preying, you
know what I mean. Yeah, it's a good word website,
isn't it's And those websites are not trying to sell
you stuff. They're actually there for this. Yeah, that's right,

(02:05):
there you go. But so I see, the web spider
princess that you find in the forest is a trampoline
and it has these lovely little guy ropes at the
bottom and at the top sticking up from the trampoline,
so that at night, when the multo beagle flies passed
and it doesn't see the little the little gossom as
if you like, it loses its balance and it falls

(02:26):
onto the trampoline and then they go and get them.
But these ones, the little ones that I'm finding on
the lawn and everywhere and the hedges are absolutely small
native spiders that are literally having their home there. And
it looks gorgeous because the moment it thaws out, you
won't see them again. And this is where they're, where

(02:46):
they live, and this is how they move, and this
is how they catch their prey, even in the middle
of winter. I love that.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, that's amazing. It's so beautiful. Like you said, so
you got it. You've got to be up early to
see some of these things, right, Yes, you got it.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, you got it. But that's why I took those
photos and chucked them in there now they yeah, yes,
lovely stuff sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Okay, well, we will make sure that we put those
photos that the gossomer and that kind of thing up
on the up on the news talks websites and people
can see them as well. Thank you very much, sir.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
So.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Is there anything else I need to do with the
strawberries for now that they'll be okay despite the cold weather.
As I've put the peace, it's all going to survive.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
You're keeping fine, You're keeping fine because even if it's
if there's a little bit of a frost, it's not
such a big deal. If it gets too much, which
it won't be happening in green Auckland, I would say
you could put something over the top to stop it,
you know, the frost cloth and things like that. Honestly,
I don't think rangers too.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I know you've always you got away. Yeah, I feel
like it's just I feel like it's close enough. We're
getting close enough to the end of winter, aren't we.
It's always a bit of a plant with the hydrangers.
I feel like, you know, you just you never want
to leave it too late. But cut them back very good.
Thank you sir. We will catch you again very soon.
Root climb passed in the garden for us.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
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