This afternoon, I watched a large Araneus spider as it removed
a fallen leaf from its web. These spiders are rarely seen on
their webs as they like to stay hidden of to one side in their retreat.
However, the spider seemed quite determined to remove the leaf
and grabbed it with its legs and also bit and tore at it. After some tugging
and struggling, it managed to pull the leaf free and then dropped it.
Then it inspected the web and made a couple of minor repairs,
then slid back along the topline to its retreat.