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MIST-DRENCHED orb webs on the clothes post are backlit by filtered sunlight. There are five of them, connected to the struts and washing line, pointing in different directions like the dishes on a communications tower.The misting makes the spider's skill visible to human eyes, but is a nuisance for the spider, as it masks the stickiness of the silk. A drowsy fly blunders into one of the webs as it takes off from the post, but just rebounds from it.
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Later in the day the sun burns away the mist and a Large White and a fresh-looking Small Tortoiseshell appear. The flat rose-pink flowerheads of the Ice Plant, Sedum (or if you prefer, Hylotelephium) spectabile, from China and Korea, are popular with the tortoiseshell.