Wasp Spider Invaders

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I stumbled across my first wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) in the summer of 2008. We’d been mowing a road verge with the National Trust and whilst sweeping up the grass noticed this extraordinary looking creature:

Female wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

It’s not what you’d expect from a British spider – the distinctive black, white and yellow stripes give it a dramatic appearance, and at 2cm it’s fairly large – something you might imagine encountering in the tropics, shortly before it bit you and ruined your holiday!

Sure enough it’s a foreign invader, more commonly found in the Mediterranean and first recorded on UK shores in 1922. Since then it’s made the south coast its home and, as conditions have warmed, has spread steadily north in recent years.

The Isle of Purbeck is at the southern extreme of its range in this country so it must have been present for some while. The following summer the female spiders were present in large numbers in a meadow at Durlston Country Park outside Swanage and I photographed them a little hastily with my point-and-click at the time.

When I acquired a DSLR camera capable of HD video recording this year, and a decent macro lens, I decided the wasp spider invaders would make a good subject for a short video:

Canon 550D | Canon EF-S 60mm Macro | Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

I couldn’t find the spiders in the places I’d spotted them previously, but while clearing another fenceline with the National Trust we stumbled across this small colony living on the edge of Godlingston Heath on the Studland peninsula.

Over a couple of visits I shot some decent footage and stills at very close range with the 60mm macro lens. The conditions were a little breezy, which makes life difficult at very shallow macro depths of field but I’m pleased with the results.

Wasp spider

Wasp spider macro detail

Try as I might I could not track down the male wasp spider, which is smaller and quite dull in colour. I would also have liked to include some footage of the spiders’ large egg sacs, but the weather turned wet and stormy towards the end of the month and by the time I returned the colony was washed out. Only a couple of females remained and no egg sacs.

Burnet Bodysnatchers

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Caterpillars get a raw deal. It’s true that the lucky winners in life morph into fabulous winged creatures which transcend their earthy origins, but a great many of their brethren seem destined to become nothing more than a convenient snack for any number of passing creatures.

Walking along the Purbeck coastal downland in mid summer I discovered a particularly unpleasant variation on this theme.

I was hoping to photograph some Adonis blue butterflies – a local speciality – but became mesmerised by a collection of tiny cocoons fastened to a grass stem. The more I looked, the more cocoons I found, but all appeared to have been vacated.

I couldn’t think what they might be, until additional exploration eventually uncovered their unfortunate victim nearby: a burnet moth caterpillar, seemingly tied to the stake:

Burnet caterpillar with cocoons

Burnet moth caterpillar parasitised by wasp larvae

This time the larvae were all too evident, as they appeared to be burrowing out of the caterpillar’s skin!

Further research reveals a fascinating tale of nature’s indifferent ingenuity:

The perpetrators in this instance are a species of Braconidae wasp which lay their eggs inside caterpillars.

When they hatch the larvae consume the caterpillar from the inside, but are careful to spare vital organs in order to keep their victim alive. Eventually the larvae cut their way out using specially adapted sharp mouthparts. When they emerge they immediately spin cocoons attached to the caterpillar.

Recent studies suggest that the larvae influence the caterpillar’s behaviour to remain in place and guard the cocoons. Thus brainwashed, the creature may even spin it’s own silk around the cocoons to further protect them. The wasps later hatch and the zombified caterpillar dies of hunger. Ain’t life great!

The Braconidae wasps don’t get it all their way however, as another variety of Ichneumon wasp parasitises the Braconidae pupae inside their own cocoons.

I found an example of this behaviour a bit further along the same stretch of coastal downland. The cocoons had been deserted by their caterpillar protector for some reason, which left them exposed.

Parasitic wasp

Ichneumon wasp parasitising Braconidae wasp pupae

AOL Time Warner

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Edited highlights from more than 5 years as lead producer on the AOL UK portals team

1. AOL portal home page – Live 8 and beyond

The brief:

Redesign and relaunch aol.co.uk home page to re-position the portal following AOL’s Live 8 exposure.

The challenge:

  • Begin to transition the portal towards a unified member/ non-member experience.
  • Balance the requirements of editorial, sales and marketing stakeholders.
  • Reflect UK brand identity whilst conforming to global brand guidelines.
  • Reconcile local and international portal product strategy expectations.
  • Maximise short-term Live 8 exposure within a sustainable, long-term solution.

The solution:

  • A single shared member/ non-member page architecture.
  • Intelligent, dynamic page elements to target member/non-member audiences.
  • Flexible, high impact content programming space.
  • UK branding and content within recognisable US template.
  • Large new multimedia UAC ad formats accommodated.
  • Renewed focus on core communications products.
  • Embedded module for monetised, task-orientated, searchable content.
  • Full CSS implementation for style and layout.
  • W3C Accessibility compliant.

2. Celebrity Love Match

The brief:

Devise a new interactive content feature for use across AOL channels.

The solution:

  • A game of matching pairs using DHTML drag-and-drop interactions.
  • Authored using Macromedia Coursebuilder software with adapted logic and feedback.
  • Re-usable in a variety of situations with minimal production costs.

The result:

  • Very popular with AOL members.
  • Adopted by several AOL channels, including Entertainment, Motoring and Lifestyle.

3. James Bond 007 Game

The brief:

Create an entertaining game to accompany a micro-site dedicated to the latest Bond film premiere.

The solution:

  • A series of mission-style objectives to identify Secret Service potential.
  • Incorporated a number of DHTML interactions including drag-and-drop, sliders, text-entry and multiple choice.
  • Final assessment feedback with times and scores for each objective to encourage competition and repeat visits.

4. AOL 9 Launch

Home page – First-time visitor
Home page – Returning member
Member acquisition hub

The brief:

Support marketing efforts to promote release of AOL 9.0 client software and new access product suite. Update site in line with new global style guide.

The challenge:

  • Maximise marketing home page real-estate without alienating existing AOL members and other interests within the business.
  • Showcase exclusive broadband content to users on a mixture of existing connection types.

The solution:

  • A dynamic home page to serve differentiated member and non-member views from a single shared domain space.
  • Distinct pathing for separate audiences.
  • First European portal implementation of AOL Screen Name Service for member authentication and recognition.
  • Complete overhaul of marketing area with new structure, copy and branding.
  • A comprehensive Flash showcase demo tailored to narrowband and broadband connection speeds.

The result:

  • Satisfied both acquisition marketing and member service interests within the business.
  • Served the needs of prospective members with minimal disruption to existing members.
  • Launched on time to coincide with TV and press promotions.

5. AOL Advent Calendar

The brief:

Reinvent AOL’s annual Advent Calendar prize give-away.

The challenge:

  • Take a tired old HTML format and bring it alive.
  • Deliver a flexible, easy production process within a dynamic template-driven design.
  • Incorporate non-intrusive commercial opportunities.

The solution:

  • A simple, fun, interactive Flash-based design.
  • 24 short festive animations revealed progressively throughout the run-up to Christmas.
  • ‘Provided by’ partner sponsorships embedded in every archived movie and prize landing page.

The result:

  • Generated ~20K daily competition entries with regular Welcome Screen promotion.
  • Ran on the AOL service in various iterations for more than 4 years.
  • Made the sales team and their clients very happy during the festive period!

6. Halloween Haunted House

The brief:

It’s Halloween – have some fun with it!

The solution:

  • An editorially driven micro-site using a haunted house analogy.
  • Spooky DHTML effects galore: disembodied eyeballs track the mouse pointer; a ghostly apparition floats in and out of the page; assorted menacing kitchen implements levitate of their own accord.

The result:

  • Much amusement had by all.
  • AOL members liked it too!