New friend

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Daisy

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New friend
« on: August 24, 2012, 10:21:59 AM »
This is my new friend. He or she has been in the same web now for over two months. He or she doesn't mind me working right beside it's web, as long as I don't trim the branches the web is attached to.
Daisy :)



Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS

Jill S

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Re: New friend
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2012, 10:45:36 AM »
Lovely spider, but it's web seems to be a bit of a problem. I understood that the sort of randomness that we can see is due to something having an adverse effect upon the spinner his/herself. Is this true? Or is the answer that this example has just caught so much that the web has had to be frequently chopped about?
Member of RHS and MGS. Gardens in Surrey, UK and, whenever I get the chance, on Paros, Greece where the learning curve is not the only thing that's steep.

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MikeHardman

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Re: New friend
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2012, 06:38:06 AM »
Jill, you can see (just about) from the pictures in this discussion that the web of 'my' Argiope is also a bit disorganized. I am sure this is due to it being well-used and/or just the middle part of the web (always more random), and is nothing untoward.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2012, 06:41:18 AM by MikeHardman »
Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England

Jill S

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Re: New friend
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2012, 10:21:13 AM »
Thank you Mike, obviously these super looking spiders are well fed. The odd looking zig-zag seam in your example has to have a very specific purpose, perhaps it just forms a permanent pathway and never gets chopped about like the rest of the web?
« Last Edit: August 25, 2012, 10:29:32 AM by JillS »
Member of RHS and MGS. Gardens in Surrey, UK and, whenever I get the chance, on Paros, Greece where the learning curve is not the only thing that's steep.

Umbrian

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Re: New friend
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2012, 05:01:47 PM »
 ;DI too have a new "friend" in my garden but am not able to photograph him/her.
About 2 weeks ago I bought some young Parsley plants because the excessive heat we have been experiencing had seen off all my existing ones. To ensure that I could look after them I planted them in 2 pots to grow on before transferring them to the garden at a later date. The pots were placed in a shady position on a small shelf at the back, North side of the house and I water them every morning. One morning I noticed that the small gravel ,that I topdress all my pots with to help prevent drying out, was disturbed  on one pot and the compost rather mounded up. The next day it was slightly worse. A day or two later I realised that there was a hole in the compost to the side of the disturbance and a closer inspection brought me face to face with.....a toad - his eyes were open (do they actually close them? I suppose so) and he moved his head a little. I carefully moved back the Parsley stalks that were partly concealing the hole and left him in peace. The Parsley does not seem to be suffering and I have another pot and he is welcome to his cool retreat.  :)
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.

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John J

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Re: New friend
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2012, 03:32:43 PM »
I'm not sure we can class this chap as a new friend because we don't know how long he'll hang around. My wife spotted him this evening as she was strolling around the garden. We don't see them very often these days as the area is getting more built up all the time so they're doubly welcome when we do. Many of the older generation of Cypriots wouldn't agree with us as they considered them to be bad luck and killed them on sight.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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MikeHardman

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Re: New friend
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2012, 04:55:39 PM »
Nice.
I love these chaps/chapesses (I've no idea how to sex a chamaeleon). Every time I find one and start witching it, it doesn't take long before my mind goes a bit loopy trying to imagine how it perceives the world when its eyes swivel independently.
It is also curious, given how well they can colour-match their surroundings when they feel like it, when crossing a (black tarmac) road, they can choose to remain bright green! Presumably that might help their survival through avoidance of being run over (a recent adaptation), albeit while enhancing visibility to predators (which are what?).
I stopped to pick up such a green specimen on the road near home last year, and put it in my twincab (too risky to leave him there). Three minutes later, at home, could I find it?  Eventually I did. It had crawled under the passenger seat and changed colour to a dark grey - matching the framework under there! I put him to work in our vegetable patch, but never saw him again.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2012, 04:58:49 PM by MikeHardman »
Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England

Alice

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Re: New friend
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2012, 05:16:27 PM »
How wonderful! You don't often see one of those in a Mediterranean garden.
Amateur gardener who has gardened in north London and now gardens part of the year on the Cycladic island of Paros. Conditions: coastal, windy, annual rainfall 350mm, temp 0-35 degrees C.

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Marilyn

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Re: New friend
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2012, 09:45:29 AM »
What brilliant photos, Mike! The bottom one especially made me smile.
We have had increasing visits from chameleons since the garden has become more wild and native; I love them. The Portuguese, thankfully, don't seem to share the antipathy of the Greeks towards them, though they are inexplicably averse to geckos, which I also find a charming animal (and useful for hunting mosquitos, among other things!)
I work in hotel and private gardens, promoting sustainable landscape management in the mediterranean climate through the use of diverse, beautiful and appropriate plants. At home, I garden on two balconies containing mostly succulents.

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oron peri

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Re: New friend
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2012, 09:32:09 PM »
I was in Crete last week, when at a certain point some one stopped us, she said she had some thing on her mind,
after telling us about it she felt relieved.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2012, 09:38:44 PM by oron peri »
Garden Designer, Bulb man, Botanical tours guide.
Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.

Umbrian

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Re: New friend
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2012, 12:47:23 PM »
Lovely photos Oron, glad your camera is not always just focused on plants!. Obviously your friendly jibes were picked up loud and clear by the natives. :)
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.

Jill S

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Re: New friend
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2012, 01:18:32 PM »
Looks to me like she was trying to hitch a lift!!
Member of RHS and MGS. Gardens in Surrey, UK and, whenever I get the chance, on Paros, Greece where the learning curve is not the only thing that's steep.

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JTh

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Re: New friend
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2012, 02:30:28 PM »
Probably part of the new EU  control imposed on Greece by the Troika, I’m glad  she found everything OK.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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JTh

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Re: New friend
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2012, 03:36:15 PM »
We have some four-legged friends in the garden as well, the green lizard below was very curious and not very scared, it didn’t mind being photographed this summer. We were not taught anything about lizards at the vet. school, could this be a Lacerta sp.?

The small, spotted lizards seem to prefer to stay on the inside of walls, this one somehow got inside my bag and followed me to the beach, I guess it may be a Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus?
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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oron peri

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Re: New friend
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2012, 04:30:15 PM »
Jorun, it is a Mediterranean Gecko, lizard looks like a feamale of Lacerta viridis subsp meridionalis [Northeastern Green Lizard]
« Last Edit: September 11, 2012, 09:39:57 PM by oron peri »
Garden Designer, Bulb man, Botanical tours guide.
Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.