A nice sunny day which has been a rarity for some time although the wind was a bit cutting. My day started at 10pm and took me to Leysdown and produced the Sanderling and Turnstone pics, then on to Harty, no luck this week with the Barn Owl pictured earlier, five Marsh Harrier were in evidence and two seemed to be displaying a few Mallard about and seemed to be paired off, Reed Buntings were about, not much else. On to RSPB ELMLEY turned off the main road and just by the farm two crows were harrassing a Marsh Harrier the Curlew was very obliging in my pic's below, there were a great many scattered over the reserve, lapwing were in evidence but well down on previous years, still a hell of a lot of surface water everywhere but there were a few Lapwing who entertained me with some spectacular stunt flying and trying to impress the females. I arrived at the Wellmarsh hide there were hudreds of waders but they were not on the scrape in front of the hide but much further over and the reason for this was that there were no islands evident in front of the hide save a couple of high spots, the water level is such as I have never before seen, so the birds moved further out on the marsh. see picture below. I do hope that this situation improves before the arrival of the Godwits and the Avocets. Good Birding Dave.

From Wellmarsh Hide, Elmley

Taken from the hide, this shot starts beyond the far bank of Wellmarsh and this water is about 100yds further on, not even the scope could identify the occupants.

Curlew

A few pictures of one of my favourite birds.

Curlew

Curlew

Curlew

Sanderling

Sanderling

Last feed before the tide takes over.

Turnstone

These delightful little birds were take at Leysdown, just as the tide which was flooding robbed them of their feeding area.

Redshank

This bird has established an area for himself and has a mate and is ready to breed. Taken at rspb Elmley, Kent

Carrion Crow

I think this lad took umbridge at being photographed when crowing rather loudly at me I think he was trying to tell me to go away, or words very similar.

Carrion Crow

This crow I think has had to much contact with the waders!

Egret

This Egret is having a rest after a mornings feeding.

A Snipe at Elmley

BARN OWL CAUGHT KNAPPING

Today was memorable for two reasons, firstly when at Leysdowne about 10 of the clock I have never experienced such extreme windchill, care of a North Easterly wind which, I always called a lazy wind, meaning that it would sooner go through you than round you, and secondly and more pleasurable was the bird encounters as you can see by the pictures below, I have hardly been out since before Christmas and if I did it was for essentials, I prefer to leave the Arctic conditions to you fit and healthy young guys. . . This being the first serious attempt at photography, and exposure to the elements, I was amazed at the birdlife I had access to, the Barn Owl was the result of my second visit of the day to Harty, the owl was resting on a post close to the Raptor Viewpoint, after a few shots he took off and alighted on a post only twenty yards away, I sneaked up on him a little clumsily but he humoured me and allowed a few more shots, most obliging I thought! . . Next I visited Elmley only driving as far as the farm, there is a great deal of surface water which seem to favour the coots for they seem to be everywhere. . A quick breakdown of the day. Leysdowne Dunlin 30+ Turnstone 60+ Gulls Loads Curlew 6 Harty Barn Owl Mute Swans 50 no whooper or bewicks Marsh Harrier 2 Fieldfare 30+ Egret 1 . Finally RSPB Elmley Curlew 50+ Wigeon not seen but heard. Lapwing does not seem as many as this time last year LBG's 5 little brown job's

SNIPE

Driving from the farm to the main road at Elmley I spotted this little chap huddled against the bank in the lee of a bitterly cold wind, I have not seen a snipe for a couple of years and never one this close.

Taken from the car, passenger window open.

BARN OWL

BARN OWL

BARN OWL

BARN OWL

A BARN OWL

BARN OWL in retreat

Still retreating

Black Headed Gull

Turnstone

Lots of these at Leysdowne.

Unsure

Possible stint perhaps?

Lots of these at Elmley.

Curlew

This and quite a few birds were in evidence at RSPB Elmley

Lapwing

A nicely turned out lapwing all ready and bedecked ready for entertaining the ladies.

THE UNFORTUNATE KITE

An interesting article on the Kites demise in 1939 and a year before I was born. In view of the misleading state­ments ... it is thought desirable to issue a statement of the facts concerning the Kite in the British Isles. . . . Two pro­fessional egg and skin dealers began to work South Wales systematically in 1893, and between that date and 1903 usually took from two to three clutches annually ... in 1905 only five birds were known to exist. Professional egg-taking ceased. ... At the same time, as recently as 1920, no fewer than four adults were sent to Aberystwyth alone for preser­vation. ... A search through the sale catalogues for forty years past has only resulted in tracing 28 British Kites' eggs . .. only 12 of which are of Welsh origin. In 13 cases I have been able to ascertain the prices realised, which work out at about six shillings per egg! "At the present time one of the greatest dangers to the Kite is the inflated idea as to the value of its eggs current in Wales. ... In addition to this, the Welsh Kites are a some­what decadent race. The infertility of their eggs, a tendency to desert the nest and inability to hold their own against hordes of Carrion Crows, are all dangerous and disquieting signs . . . the egg collector is blamed for what, after all, is really the work of the gamekeeper."—The late Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, The Truth About the Kite (pamphlet), 1932. "In all, six pairs were traced, five of these located as carrying to a nest. . . . No. 1.—Was definitely a young pair which carried to first one site and then another within a mile, but did not settle down . . . the pair were much disturbed by the odd freak cock, known by his conspicuous white feathers, who fought with the cock of the pair continuously. No. 2.— This pair . . . successfully reared one young bird. An attempt was made to approach this nest at dusk; this was prevented by the prompt action of the watcher and a near by farmer. No. 3.—In a spell of very hot weather, crows were attracted to the site by the increased food brought in, attacked the nest and the young were destroyed. No. .4 This pair ... we could not trace. ... I believe this to a pair which raised the two young seen in July in an area further North. No. 5.— . . . the tree was definitely climbed before night and day watchers were put on. . . . this nest was lost through the 'freak cock' fighting with the cock of the pair. There was continuous fighting for two days . . . The cock of the pair was badly injured if not killed. It did not return to the nest with food and after twenty-four hours the hen left altogether. No. 6.—This pair was seen . . , early in March, but nest was not found."—From the Report of Kite Preservation Fund, Bwlch, 1939.

More on Bird Migration

Now let us have something to say about methods of studying bird migration, although I do not wish to use the term "studying" in the sense of regimented bird study by bureaucratic, but by scientific and democratic, organisation. Ordinary casual watching by the week-end visitor to bird haunts provides the bulk of those "records" which not only fascinate the bird-watcher but have contributed much valuable information to the study of bird migration, and many field-reports for the surveys organised by some of the scornful critics of amateur ornithologists. Perhaps it is the element of surprise as to what may turn up next which gives bird migration such a wide appeal. In my particular area the arrival on local waters of the wild duck is of an endless interest. Pochard and Tufted Duck, the two commonest divers, first appear in August, probably coming from British nesting haunts. They are followed by Teal, Shoveller and Scoter in September, the fishing Mergansers reach the estuary, and a few Pintail come to the lakes and estuaries in October. Wigeon, Scaup and Goldeneye appear in Novem¬ber along the marine lakes when the holiday crowds have gone home from the seaside. In December there is a large immigration of Mallard, presumably from North Europe where the cold weather is setting in for the winter. Many Mallard visit the sea off the Lancashire coast by day—and then in January one usually sees a few red-headed young Smews on lake or mere. One day early in October I was astonished at the numbers of Black Duck, or Scoter, I could see in Liverpool Bay. For at least a couple of miles a great raft of these sea duck extended over the choppy waves. There must have been many thousands of birds there, and another raft of some ten thousand duck extended over the Formby Channel when I moved farther up the Lancashire coast. Possibly a strong westerly wind blowing at the time held up their usual September migration through the Irish Sea. On another occasion, during a very severe frost, it was vividly impressed upon me that plovers must travel far in search of the open marshes of the coast, for on the coastal plain two enormous flocks of Lapwings momentarily joined together until the sky was full of their broad, flapping, almost black and white wings. I estimated ten thousand Lapwings there, and I watched to see if their wailing cries were part of a rivalry between the two flocks over such useful feeding ground, but shortly afterwards the flocks broke up again and departed. For several successive winters I used to watch a white Oyster-Catcher in the Dee Estuary, and as white Oyster-Catchers are not, by any means, common, this was probably the same bird returning each year to the same winter haunts at Hilbre Island. Merely to watch and note the names of birds misses half the fun in bird watching. Once you have learned to know birds, a closer scrutiny will sometimes reveal one of the Continental races that can be distinguished by sight, like the larger, more highly-coloured Greenland Wheatear, the paler Continental Song Thrush, the white-headed Northern Long-tailed Tit, or Continental forms of Goldfinch, Bullfinch and Great Tit with their brighter colours. Perhaps a Greater Spotted Woodpecker whose whiteness is clear white, not the dirty white of our native bird, will be the Northern or Con¬tinental form? In the Eastern counties such -differences are most often seen, but there is always interest in looking twice at even the commonest bird. I have seen the members of a field club on one of their afternoon walks dismiss a party of White Wagtails under the illusion that they were Pied Wag¬tails ; often a flock of Yellow Wagtails on spring migration will repay closer attention by the discovery that they include one or two of the blue-headed form. We hardly ever see the shore in winter without its noisy mob of Herring-Gulls: but are we sure they are all Herring-Gulls, and that there is not one without the black tips to its wings? And then by the wing tips extending to or beyond the tail we can deter¬mine if the visitor is a Glaucous Gull or less frequently an Icelander. When great flocks of Golden Plover foregather in April before their homeward migrations, the Northern race can be determined on sight by the enormous extent of black edged with white on the cock bird's underparts. The bird-watcher will look twice at the legs of a Ringed Plover to make sure it is not a Kentish Plover, and so on. He who has learned to look at small details will notice the seasonal changes of plumage, and sex and age his birds by such means. He will see minor changes such as the Oyster-Catcher's white neck-band in winter, and the cock Fieldfare's yellower bill in May; he will notice how many of the roving party of Long-tailed Tits wear the brown tints of juvenile days. But when bird-watching is organised at suitable places at the same time, it is possible to learn how extensive is a migration, like that of Tern passing inland in May. This avoids the danger of making generalisations from casual and local records. Places of equal migration dates can then be linked on a map by lines called migrant isophenes. Thus we see how the spring migrants invade progressively the South-West, the West, and the South, and later the Midlands and the North-East of Britain, keeping close to the spread of spring weather, while the autumn arrival of the Fieldfare is almost the reverse, starting with North-East Scotland. Such migration maps can be compared very easily with the physical conditions and the weather which influence the invasion. Prehistoric migration routes may be located from prehistoric bird remains unearthed in places which may not always coincide with their present range. An ornithologist who is also an archaeologist told me that by this means, remains of the Lesser White-fronted Goose in Sweden indicated that' this scarce British visitor had changed its nesting range in modern times.

HOW BIRDS MIGRATE

This is an interesting article on bird migration through observations made in the the fifties by

Eric Hardy a very respected Ornithologist.

How high do birds fly when migrating ? how far ? and how fast? These questions spring quickly to the mind of the lay-man newly interested in the subject, and they have engaged the attention of ornithologists for many years. The height depends upon the visibility, the speed upon whether or not the birds are aided by a following wind, like the Trans-atlantic Lapwings, while the distance (and speed) are often a question of how far north is the nesting place. Most migration, however, is below 3,000 feet, although I sat on the summit of Mt. Hermon one afternoon at the end of July, and watched and listened to flocks of European Bee-Eaters and Swallows passing overhead, at least 10,000 feet high. The bubbling songs of migrating Bee-Eaters usually announced their presence, on spring or autumn migration, high in the sky of bugloss blue above my office in Jerusalem, when they were travelling more than 3,000 feet high. They were, I believe, the "singing birds" referred to by Solomon in his remarks upon the season of spring migration. But the Bee-Eaters and Swallows dipped down much lower into the Jordan Valley after they had cleared Mt. Hermon. Lapwings have been recorded at 6,500 feet, Golden Plover at 6,000 feet, and grey geese at 5,000 feet; but on misty nights the migration must be very low, considering the frequency with which we hear their calls. Birds usually fly at a slightly faster speed than normal when migrating. For example the Swallow averages 23 to 38 m.p.h. on normal flight, and 34 to 40 on migration; and the Rook on migration increases its average from 24 to 3 5 to 3 8 to 45. Radar-timed Mallard, Pintail and Blue-winged Teal averaged 30 to 35 m.p.h., and grey geese Radar-timed nearly 80 miles averaged 25 m.p.h. In calm weather most small birds average about 25 m.p.h. Autumn migration is often very leisurely. I have known a pair of Green Sandpipers, on autumn passage-migration, remain a fortnight at the local sewage farm before continuing, and in the mild winter of 1948-1949 two remained all winter by some ponds in south Lancashire; likewise with Ruffs, Bee-Eaters and other un-common visitors. A Turnstone was shot at Cherbourg twenty-five hours after it was ringed at Heligoland; a Swift took seventeen hours at the most to travel between Algiers and England. A wandering Albatross was killed twelve days after being ringed 3,150 miles away. By collecting the records of numerous observers on the Continent, Southern has shown that the Swallow took about 109 days to cover the 2,500 miles from Gibraltar to Norway. Its progress was slowest at the beginning of the journey, when it took about a month to reach France alone, and then its numbers spread north faster at about 25 miles per day over Europe. The Willow-Warbler covered the same distance in about eighty eight days, also slowly at the beginning, when the spring weather was slow in arriving, and averaging 29 miles per day. The Redstart migrated the same distance in about sixty-one days, but this was later in the season when the weather was not of a nature to hold it up so much as had delayed the others. It averaged 30 to 40 miles per day in advancing. These speeds may seem to contradict the previous paragraph, but the former is direct flight, the latter is penetration northwards. Much of that travelling was no doubt day migration. Night migration seems most consistent where the birds require the daytime for feeding. The movement of wild duck, Woodcock and other birds is much influenced by moonlight. It is often possible to witness day migration with the Starling, Rook, the Jay (south-eastern England), and the auks. In Palestine where the Starling is only a winter visitor, I once witnessed the day migration of this bird down the deep Jordan Valley, when motoring from Jerusalem to Jericho with Dr. T. A. Cockburn, assistant superintendent of London Zoo. We had just begun to drop below Bethany in the afternoon of 21st November 1945, when in the distance over Jericho appeared a whirring flock of Starlings like a haze of locusts, flying south. An observer ringing birds at a lighthouse on the French coast near Cherbourg at night in September found the Kingfisher amongst the migrants which had almost certainly crossed the Channel in the dark. I have watched for migrants from the cross channel steamers and the birds seem to cross open sea out of sight of land-marks on a fairly broad front. But some seabirds like Shearwaters appear to use "lanes" at sea. Few birds are more conspicuous in the sky than the Swift which the late Edward Thomas described:

With wings and tail as sharp and narrow as if the bow had flown off with the arrow.

Its sudden migration, so quickly noticed, often coincides with a rise in temperature at the full moon in August.

The Cormorant.

The fact that Cormorants are capable of eating 7 to 10 Ib. of fish daily and yearly consume about £30,000 of fish on the western sea-board, was stated at a recent meeting at Chester, of the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee by ... who moved that a reward of one shilling be given for every Cormorant killed between the little Orrne and Point Lynas, Anglesey." — Daily Mail, 9th Nov. 1929.

Something to consider

CRANE-FLIES and Leather-jackets are accounted for in vast numbers by Lapwing, Rook, Starlings, Thrushes, Corncrake, Wren, House-Sparrow, Yellow-Iminmer and Curlew. Professor Newstead records that during a plague of Crane-flies the remains of 400, with 1,600 eggs, were found in one of the pellets (representing probably one meal) of a Black-headed Gull. " If this were a single Gull it would be accountable for the enormous number of 4,000 Crane-flies per day, making an aggregate of 28,000 per week."—Birds, Insects and Crops (The Royal I Society for the Protection of Birds, 1918)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Firstly I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and may good birding be better than you expect. Well the snow has finally left us and the weather a little improved, these latest pictures represent my first outing for over a month, bloods a bit thinner when you are older, feeling the cold more intensely. Spring is just around the corner, and if my garden is to be believed the bulbs think its already here.

My regular visitor

This Robin is almost a family pet, and has become quite tame.

RSPB Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

Elmley must have had a great deal of snow, as this picture shows, also most of the water still has ice on the surface. there is also large expanses of standing water at Elmley, and after the big freeze the road is atrocious and even worse from the car park, east.

Not one bird at Wellmarsh scrape.

Could not resist this shot into the sun at Elmley

Not Sure

This was taken on the Harty Road, there were about a dozen mute swan's a fair way off, but one stood out, it being smaller with the head much more pointed, the neck was not as long as the mutes, I concluded that this was perhaps a Whooper or a Bewick, perhaps you field guys have other ideas?

A hunting Kestrel

A chance shot of a kestrel spotting and stooping on its quarry, it did not fly off with the prey, but chose to consume it in situe two of the pictures show the kestrel "mantling" its prey, this is the typical behaviour of the smaller of the birds of prey

A gathering of Turnstone

I took thest pics at Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent

Lack of Birdlife in my location.

Where have all the birds gone! Warren have you got my Greenfinches? cos I haven't, still have the Goldfinches coming to the feeder, one Blue tit and one Great tit, a few Sparrows hundreds of Starlings and loads of Jackdaws. Whats happening in the countryside Field Guys? Any Fieldfares, Redwings, not been out much due to health or the lack of, had my Swine Flue jab today, like some of our birds I am considered at risk.

Couple of Robins

Look Mum one wing, the question is did he fly in ever decreasing circles?

Herring Gull at Leysdowne

The ingenuity of birds.

Above is a short clip depicting the versatility and ingenuity of birds, and in this case Starlings, seen here utilising its wing as as an arm. I wonder does it still have in its small brain a spark of memory of the prior use of this limb

It is perhaps why these birds are so successful and that they do not seem to suffer the ups and downs of numbers as do our other resident uk birds.

Well! Its something to ponder over.

THE NEED for BIRD PROTECTION

THE ENEMIES OF BIRDS. Excerpt from a book. THE activities of the Inverness and Nairn Agricultural Executive Committee destroyed 2,500 Hoodie Crows in 1946. The Oban Times, of 2oth September 1947, reported that 2,284 Hoodie Crows were destroyed in 1947 in Inverness-shire. At one estate at Ware, in Hertfordshire, in 1946, 65 Jays and 63 Magpies were shot by the gamekeepers in nine months. The Birds of the Liverpool Area mentions 5 o Magpies on a gibbet one winter in Cheshire. The famous game-book Gammoma includes in the Knowsley Park vermin lists 148 Magpies shot in 1829, 136 in 1830, 114 in 1831, and 82 in 1832. The following birds, seen on a gamekeepers' gibbet near Scarborough in 1890, were recorded by W. Gyngell in The Naturalist for 1905: 20 Long-eared Owls, 17 Carrion-Crows, 7 Tawny Owls, 4 Short-eared Owls, 4 Sparrowhawks, 2. Barn-Owls, 2 Kestrels, 2 Magpies, i Jay, and 736 head of other "vermin." In Bulletin 81 (1948) of the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society, 11Tawny Owls were reported found on one recent gibbet and 3 Great Crested Grebes on another. The late Lord Sefton and party shot 2,939 Red Grouse on the opening day of the 1915 season upon his 12,000 acres Abbey stead moor in Lancashire, and 17,078 grouse in the season. In one drive at Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire, about 1860, 252 Blackgame were shot. Hugh Gladstone records, in his book Record Bags and Shooting Records, that, on 12th October 1916, Lord Elphinstone and party shot 249 Snipe at Tiree, in the Hebrides. 358 Woodcock were shot by thirteen guns at Powerscourt, County Wickow, on 2jth September 1890, and at the mouth of the River Maigue, in Limerick, a fowler killed 43 Bean-Geese at one punt-gun shot. Another punt-gun killed 150 Golden Plover. The Rev Mr. Close, of Kileel Rectory, last century shot 60 Curlew at one discharge of his punt-gun in Carlingford Lough, and in 1845 a fowler shot upwards of 300 Dunlin with one swivel gun shot. Firing 1,510 cartridges, the 6th Lord Walsingham killed 1,070 Grouse in a single day at Blubberhouses, on the Yorkshire moors, and it is reputed that the carcases were stacked in piles three or four feet high in the farm­house passages and corridors, and for a week the building was crawling with vermin which had left the dead birds. A ball bowled by Jehangir Khan, of Cambridge Univer­sity, to T. N. Pearce, of the M.C.C., in a cricket match at Lords on 3rd July 1936, killed a Sparrow, which fell dead against the stumps as Pearce played the ball. The Sparrow is now stuffed, mounted upon the ball, and the whole set up on a stand with a plaque commemorating the feat. "Corncrake Wings, 2s. 6d. Pair. Jays, 6d. Starlings, 2d In winter the Starlings which visit Spain from Germany and North Europe are caught at their winter roosts and used for human food. 22,000 dozen, or over a quarter of a million, have been taken in a season near Cadiz and sold for eating at three pesetas a dozen. I will, if interest is shown, publish more facts, although shameful it perhaps does point to some progress in conservation.

Something that will concern all of you eventually

Hi Field guy's and Visitors I have just purchased an all singing and dancing desktop computer, ( which will probably be outdated by the New Year ) and it has been loaded with the all new Windows 7 which microsoft will have us believe is the answer to all our problems, on the face of it yes! but hold on here and consider what you have purchased or will be in the future, as they are washing their hands of XP and will not be giving this windows edition any support, it is already enjoying an extension due to an outcry from the public. They then they marketed Vista, home , Pro and Student editions, not even arguably the most unstable windows edition to date and charged us a premium for it's use despite numerous updates via SP1, SP2 and numerous other corrections to the unstable program they never got it right and some updates even caused crashes serious enough for a visit from an engineer, and then to be told your PC would have to go back to the Engineers lab as this problem cannot be corrected on site, that's £50+ before he's started. Microsoft now get really devious, they have given you a much more stable operating system but at a cost. Yes it is better, smoother, because they have taken away all the faults and the parts of the programme that slowed down everything, you do not have video editing, photo editing and most importantly no email programme, I was okay I just switched over to Outlook, so again Mr Gates is advocating "Less is More" but I do not agree, we should have had a stable programme in the first place, by adequately testing the product and doing away with all those annoying updates which only proves the programmes instability, Shops and businesses can be brought to book for shoddy practice, but not Mr Gates. I will now get off my soapbox.

Strange Colouration

This little chappie is a very recent visitor to my bird feeding station he has unusual colouring I also noticed that it was being picked on by the other Jackdaws and that the only way he could get a lookin was to wait until all of his kind had fed, then move in and have his fill. I can only assume from my observations that he is being victimised for his colour, which makes him different. So what's new!!!!

Degree of forward vision.

I always thought that birds only had sideways sight and that is why the heads are so active, in this picture interestingly it proves otherwise, in that they have a better all round view than we have.

My thanks to the field guy's, A Hobby.

This bird is a bit of an enigma to me, but certain features are not quite right for Kestrel.I am using Collins Bird Guide.

Any thoughts you field guy's?

Ken and Warren or anybody, what is the characteristic feature the confirms this species.

Two Birds One Shot!

Yes and they are both Waders, a preening Oyster Catcher, and a very nice Dunlin, taken at Leysdowne, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, from the promenade.

My Rarest Shot Ever

I took this shot about three years ago, it is a Trumpeter Finch, all the way from Africa, it was taken at Tankerton , Whitstable, on the North Kent Coast, three years ago, only two have ever made it to the UK, to get the shot I was using a 400mm zoom lens the distance at least 75 yds, I would add that some birders were less than concerned for the birds welfare and to my mind were tantamount to harassing the exhausted bird.

Strangely that day I was in contact with another great rarity which was spotted by Bill Oddy the day before, whilst in the company of top brass from the RSPB, they were out on the pools at Cliffe Marshes for whatever reason, he apparently exclaimed quietly, are you aware of that Terek Sandpiper over yonder! Lots of red faced RSPB Brass, and because of this quite brassed off.

I lived in Cliffe at the time and went down to the pools in the evening after returning from my encounter with the Trumpeter Finch, stopping off at Oare, Faversham, on the way home. On the viewing mound there were probably 30 birders, I managed to get my shot and drove further out onto the marsh there was a bird which was flying low the other side of the fence catching the occasional glimpse, the colouring was such I thought Kestrel, it got ahead of me by about 25 yds and settled on a post, identification was then unmistakable it was a Rufous Cuckoo not only that it flew off and joined another.

I will never be blessed in my lifetime, with the vision of three rarities in one day, but one never knows!

A Garden Spider

What a wonderful colouring nature gave this common spider, at the moment it probably has a representative of the species in every garden in the UK, if you enlarge he has quite a pretty countenance.

Same Spider

In this shot this insignificant little spider had grabbed a wood lice, wrapped it up, sucked out the body fluids, and dispensed with the shell by cutting it free from its web.

I am glad it is the size it is.