On 10/08/2013 08:11, Malcolm wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes
On 2013-08-09 18:44:29 +0100, Spider said:

On 09/08/2013 15:01, Sacha wrote:
snip
I caught an extremely fleeting glimpse of a butterfly yesterday with
wings of such a pale beige that it looked almost like a sliver of
tortoiseshell with the light shining through it. It flitted past me so
quickly I had no chance to register much more! At this rate, I'll soon
be seen leaping around the garden with a fishing net!
I know what you mean. An afternoon's planned gardening soon becomes a
butterfly/moth photographing and id-ing exercise. I haven't wafted a
net around yet, but I did save a Jersey Tiger Moth from a huge
spider's web. That's dedication, that is! :~)

I'd called that selfless! ;-)

I call it cruelty to the spider, depriving it of a meal :-)



--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 10/08/2013 09:44, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-08-10 08:11:26 +0100, Malcolm said:

In article , Sacha
writes
On 2013-08-09 18:44:29 +0100, Spider said:

On 09/08/2013 15:01, Sacha wrote:
snip
I caught an extremely fleeting glimpse of a butterfly yesterday with
wings of such a pale beige that it looked almost like a sliver of
tortoiseshell with the light shining through it. It flitted past me so
quickly I had no chance to register much more! At this rate, I'll soon
be seen leaping around the garden with a fishing net!
I know what you mean. An afternoon's planned gardening soon becomes
a butterfly/moth photographing and id-ing exercise. I haven't wafted
a net around yet, but I did save a Jersey Tiger Moth from a huge
spider's web. That's dedication, that is! :~)

I'd called that selfless! ;-)

I call it cruelty to the spider, depriving it of a meal :-)

Shudder! I rescued a bumble bee from a spider recently and I'm afraid I
couldn't summon up any sympathy for the spider, which was trying to wrap
its threads round the frantic bee.



I know what you mean. Spiders have had a pretty good innings over
recent years, so I confess I didn't feel too bad about it. Bumble bees
need all the help they can get, so well done :~).

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

Yes, but the whole nestful of workers, males etc is just a mechanism for turning one queen into the beginning of the season into perhaps two or three queens, or perhaps only one queen, at the beginning of the next season. All the rest die off. I'm sure the odd spider's dinner won't make much difference.