I was out in the garden over the weekend busily admiring my pond with my very inquisitive nephew when I noticed a spider floating on the surface - I was hastily on my way to get the net in order that I might save the creature from a watery grave when my nephew shouted up that he thought it looked OK and that several of the pesky flies which hover round the pond seemed to be either attacking or attracted to it. After several minutes observation I noticed that it was stood on the water with 6 of it's legs and the other 2 legs were raised up above it ready to catch the flies which for some reason kept coming very close to investigate. After a few failed attempts the spider finally managed to grab a fly and hung on long enough I assume to give it some sort of lethal bite!
I've since been out to the pond and not manged to see the little fellow again but I was just wondering if anyone could help me identify what type of spider it was and whether it was there by design or sheer fluke?
I've done a few searches on aquatic/pond/water spiders but none of the descriptions seem to fit the characteristics of my little eight legged friend.
Cheers
Anthony
