Shimmering curtains of spider web looped over telephone wires on a perfect autumn day have given a ghostly look to sections of country road near Ballarat.
This scene, courtesy of baby orb weaver spiders, was captured by Age photographer Angela Wylie near Lake Burrumbeet last Friday. Not far from the area where the feature film Charlotte’s Web was shot in Greendale — and in similar circumstances, save for a pig named Wilbur — the infant spiders have been busy leaving the nest.
The official name for the activity is aerial ballooning. The spiders dispense silk and allow the wind to drag it until it lifts them up and lets them “fly”.
