Why did you choose this species?

Many female spiders show remarkable maternal care, but the sight of a tiny Sputnik Spider crouching nearby her unmistakable silk egg sac is a sight never forgotten once you've found the first one.

What are the threats that it faces?

Although common, this is an overlooked and widely ignored species, at the mercy of foraging Blue Tits and summer storms, but these threats are nothing compared to pesticides and pollution. 

What can we do to help this species and others like it?

Farm and garden more sympathetically with nature - put the chemicals away and allow these natural predators to help us. 

What are your wider interests in nature?

As far as I'm concerned, good things come in small packages. The closer you look, the more you see. 

Where is your favourite place for enjoying nature?

Any leaf or tuft of moss is a wildlife safari to a naturalist with a magnifying lens! I can entertain myself in my back garden or the local park. Although I have been to the Great Barrier Reef and walked in the Australian rainforest, I wouldn't swap either of them for a summer meadow where I can feel the rhythm of the seasons stretching back hundreds of years. 

What are your top tips for helping wildlife?

Look harder, do less. Nature is best observed carefully and not interfered with.