First off, I have to say, I don't scare easy when it comes to spiders. I've had tarantulas crawling up my arms, and scorpians doing their own thing in the palm of my hand - but I won't go into that here - no, really. ^=^ I do not flinch at the sight of any 8 legged - or any other number of legged - insects. Until yesterday! How I got that second shot off, I simply don't know, but take it from me, when that second spider ran out my stomach did a flip! I went up to the clay trails, mainly because this time of year, spiders rule! The webs are phenomenal - huge structures that must take hours to build, with lines going off in all directions - plus spiders to match - not going off in all directions you understand - just rather large! The web above stood out, so I stepped up to it despite there being no spider to see - until my shadow fell across it. In the first image, the spider ran out at twice the speed of sound and actually challenged me - or at least, my shadow. As I took her photo (not the best but you try facing down a spider with evil intent! ^=^) - the spider in the second image came from nowhere - one minute it wasn't there, the next it was! In a very sedate manner (believe that if you can), I stepped backwards, snapping off the not-too-good image of the encounter between the two, and in a flash it was over. The black spider - the largest I've seen and I have no idea what sort it was - perhaps someone out there can say - disappeared within the spines of the gorse, and I have no idea where the other one went. I also still have no idea what on earth it was all about! One thing is definite though - the web belonged to the black spider. Today - brave soul that I am - I shall return. I've a good idea just where that particular web is, and I am curious to see what - if anything - is around. Thank you for taking the time to look. ^=^