February 2024

30
Wanstead Village Directory
I
am an IT professional by trade, but
photography, stargazing, fitness
and dancing are my passions. Covid
lockdowns made me explore Wanstead
Flats and Wanstead Park more than ever
with my camera. And ever since, nature
has always surprised me with something
amazing. It’s a genuine treasure on my
doorstep!
Shooting spiders can be tricky at times; some
hide and some keep moving among bushes.
But it’s easy with Nursery Web Spiders – as
pictured here – as they love sunbathing. It
means plenty of light and opportunities to
shoot. A good tripod is often required while
doing macro photography like this, but I
generally tend to shoot handheld. This shot
was taken with a Nikon D610 camera and
Sigma 105mm macro lens. I used manual focus
and my settings were 1/160th second
shutter speed at F-stop 11
and ISO 640.
Both Wanstead Flats and Wanstead Park are
a great place to do macro photography. You
can typically spot bees, hoverflies, common
flies, hornets, wasps, caterpillars, insect
eggs, butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers,
craneflies and, of course, numerous spiders, to
name just a few.
The Nursery Web Spider is a common spider
of grassland and scrub. It is often seen among
brambles and stinging nettles, and typically
holds its front two pairs of legs together
pointing forwards. They are relatively large,
ranging between 10mm and 50mm. They vary
in colour from grey through to orange and
dark brown, and their legs have small black
spines sticking out.
Nursery Web Spiders are roaming hunters,
which means they don’t use webs for catching
prey (it gets its name from the delicate care
the female takes of her egg sac). Many can
walk on the surface of still bodies of water and
may even dive temporarily to escape enemies.
To view more of Deepak’s wildlife photos,
visit wnstd.com/deepak
To advertise, call 020 8819 6645 or visit wnstd.com