Common spiders

The other day we were filming a sequence with a spider expert in Wales.  A fine mist tamed the sunrise for a couple of hours and the spiders were out in force.  There was a house spider holing out in a drystone wall, and this is where we filmed the ‘tuning fork’ technique being used, a first time for me.  Apparently a middle C works best, but other pitches are available – I know this because my uncle is a piano tuner and has a whole set of them.  Anyway, by striking the fork and holding it against the edge of said house spider’s web, she was foxed into thinking she had caught something, and shot out to actually grab the end of the tuning fork.  It’s great when a plan comes together.