I was looking for weevils when I spotted these two spiders on the same Gorse bush at the Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve recently. (This was a bit freaky: I need both distance and reading glasses but don’t like bifocals so, when I’m out walking, I have to push my distance specs down my nose and get my head close to small things to see with my unspectacled eyes.)

I initially thought these two spiders were Agalematea redii but quickly realised I was wrong about the first one I found. It is, in fact, Larinioides cornutus, a species that prefers living on vegetation in damp places but can also be found on built structures in those areas. It’s common in the south of Britain, becoming less so the further north you travel. The Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website has a map and lots of interesting information.

And, though it looks different to my untrained eye, it turns out that the second spider is also Larinioides cornutus. The very helpful British Spiders social media person on Bluesky explained: ‘The second looks like Larinioides cornutus as well. Although the alpha form of Agelenatea redii has quite similar patterning, it has a noticeably smaller and rounder abdomen – one of those things that’s obvious when you meet it!’ I’m hoping I meet it a little more distantly than I did with the two shown here!