With a clear blue sky and temperatures reaching a very pleasant 14 degrees yesterday, we took our usual Sunday morning amble across Pevensey Levels to check the ditches for amphibians and the ivy clad hedgerows for signs of emerging Holly Blues. However, what I did find were several sub-adult Fen Raft Spiders (Dolomedes plantarius) basking in the ditch margins. I have never seen fully mature adults earlier than the second week of April and it will be another few weeks before these specimens reach full maturity.
Fen Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius) (sub-adults)
I think the first two images are of young males and the third is of a young female.
