Everyday invertebrates

Now that autumn is here and a seasonal quietness descends, I go to the window box several times every day to see if I can find any invertebrates.  This has proved quite successful.  Today, for example, I found a walnut orb-web spider, Nuctenea umbratica.

These hide in suitable crevices by day (this one was tucked neatly behind a stipule on one of the sallow wands) and spin their web as dusk falls.  It is one of the few British spiders capable of biting humans, but if it does it only causes a little mild irritation.