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Ground spider (black; Gnaphosidae) and crab spider

 

When a sunny day with weak winds occurs in the autumn tiny young spiders crawl up into the tips of withering grass straws and twigs. They stretch the abdomen towards the sky and start releasing long ballooning threads into the air from the spinneret glands. This thread is not quite the same as that which the spiders use to spin their webs. It is fluffier, consisting of three adjoining parallel threads together forming a tiny parachute. When the thread has grown long enough the rising air currents take it with them. The young spider starts its first and possibly also last aerial flight. Always in order to travel further away from the birth place. Where it will go, only the wind knows.

 

Many parachute threads get tangled in the vegetation. For many spiders the flight ends only a few metres away. Their threads end up on the ground, gleaming in the sun, already since ancient times called gossamer or spider floss.

 

On 12.10 tiny spiders spinning the gossamer threads could be seen in many places. Even up to 1 cm long spiders rose into the air. Walking through the grass the whole body became covered with a coat of the gossamer threads. And a spinner or two managed to get a free ride on the photo bag and the jacket. It was a good day.