BugWise

Web2Spider workshop hosted by Wollongong City Bushcare

A Web2Spider workshop, funded by the Southern River Catchment Management Authority, was held on the 31st January at the Wollongong City Botanic Gardens.

Twenty-three people attended in spite of very heavy rain which caused a change of plans for the evening at last minute. The original plan was to watch part of the Web2Spider training DVD, introduce the identification guide, spend time outside in pairs finding and identifying  different webs, and returning to the DVD for more information and confirmation of our findings. Instead, the DVD was relied upon and participants only managed to get outside for about 10 minutes in lighter rain. 

Lots of webs and spiders were found, but people couldn’t use the id keys at all because of the rain.
Handouts and suggestions were made for further information – books and websites - and gave as much information as we could in discussion, which centred on the role of spiders in the ecosystem – most people were active Bushcare volunteers.

Guest speaker Dr Helen Smith (Arachnologist and member of the BugWise team) from the Australian Museum was delayed by the storm until close to the end so the time was extended for almost an hour as Helen answered all the more detailed spider-related questions.

Contributed by Lynne Kavanagh (Bushcare Officer)