Earlier on this month we learnt that the government is to review official websites. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude promised a review which he says could see up to 75% of government websites shut down. Now, thanks to a question asked in parliament by Tom Watson MP, we can see exactly which websites will stay and which will go in DEFRA, the department most concerned with the environment. The results are interesting reading, and maybe shed some light on the new government's priorities.

The full list of those that will stay and those that will go can be found on theyworkforyou.com, and is worth perusing. But here are some highlights.

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Here's a video shot by enterprising spider-enthusiast Cat, showing a tiny but hungry zebra spider in action. As it's so weeny you are most strongly advised to select the HD version and fullscreen option if you're able to, as you'll see much more detail.

This tiny drama is a great insight into the world of the hunting spider. Clever Cat managed to get it on a white background - it's very rarely so easy to see this kind of interaction.

One thing I noticed is how these little things really do have 360° vision - you'll see quite clearly that at one point the spider noticed the fly when it was facing directly away from it. Also, look out for the 'pouncing posture' - just like a cat getting ready to jump on its prey, the jumping spider gets ready for a jump with a characteristic pose.

And the anthropomorphism? I'm as guilty as the next frog.

Here's a speeded-up video showing the remarkable process whereby a spider-crab sheds its skin. Pretty much all arthropods undergo this process of ecdysis during development. Imagine pulling your legs out of those!

You can see the results of this for yourself - no need to go to Japan. Next time you find a dead spider in your house, look carefully. Does it look rather faint and thin? Has the top been flipped up like a bin-lid? If so, you could be looking at a miniature version of the exuvium the crab in this video leaves behind.

Via Boing Boing

Everyone seems to know a few facts about Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica: it's going to be eaten by some Japanese bug, any minute now; it's really nasty and destroys your house; and anyway, it's illegal, right?

Well, like many half-known truths there's something in all of these assertions. It's not an offence to have knotweed on your land - although it is to plant or sell it. And the psyllid that has been released in the UK as a biological control agent may or may not eat it all up, but for most of us that won't happen for many years, if it does at all.

But does knotweed actually damage buildings? Now this strongly-held belief about knotweed is being challenged by eminent horticulturist and broadcaster Dr Stefan Buczacki. Reported in Gardening Week Dr Buczacki says:

My instinct is that it’s an overreaction. I have never seen an example of Japanese knotweed damaging a building’s foundations. It’s undeniably a persistent, spreading weed, it’s the 21st century triffid. But the real threat of Japanese knotweed is the threat it poses to surrounding plants.

If Stefan is right - and he usually is - then is the multi-million pound knotweed-eradication industry just stringing the rest of us along?

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On the Wildlife Gardener’s list of Things To Do Before I Die, mud features quite prominently. I would like to see some volcanic, boiling mud, whether in Iceland or New Zealand. And seeing as I merely blobbled around in the Dead Sea while visiting The Holy Land in 1987 missing its mud flats, I wanted the chance to find some mineral mud to daub all over. So imagine my delight on a recent trip to Murcia in Spain to discover that the San Pedro del Pinatar salt flats contained a little resort called Lo Pagan where locals go to smear themselves with therapeutic black, mineral-rich lake sediment.

A lovely beach on the shallow Mar Menor lagoon side had the usual complement of Spanish families under umbrellas, teenagers texting and slow-roasted leathery British expats from Romford down for the day from their little places on the Costa. But then on the opposite side, strange figures, blackened like victims of some terrible fire or oil spillage moved about, drying to a deep grey in the 30°C heat. We must be near the lodo – the mud baths.

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In the International Year of Biodiversity this haunting video about urban biodiversity loss managed to affect even this cynical old Ranger.