Now that autumn is here, my garden is full of webs strung between the branches of the shrubs and across the paths. For the past several weeks * I have been getting entangled in seemingly extra-toughened web filaments, as I attempt to get to the end of the garden path. It is better in the early morning as the webs are wet with mist or dew, and I can see where they are more easily. If the web looks new I don’t really want to destroy Mr Spider’s laborious construction before he has got a meal out of all his efforts. Sometimes I can lift half of it sideways and drape it onto a nearby twig out of the way, and quite often the occupant carries on with the web in its new position. If it is * old and holey, I don’t mind breaking it because I know it has done its job and has been abandoned. Sometimes I make a detour or duck under, often only to meet another web barring my progress. In earlier years this obstacle cou...