Spider silk after rain

The rain stopped before dawn. By the time the sun reached the bramble, every strand between the leaves held a line of droplets. The web had probably been there all night; the water simply made its shape impossible to miss.

A short window

The change lasted less than half an hour. Light moved across the hedge, the smallest drops disappeared, and the web returned to being almost invisible. Three things made the difference:

1. rain had settled evenly on the silk
2. the sun was still low enough to catch each drop
3. the air remained still

At 08:10 the whole web shone. At 08:35 only the outer threads were visible.

Pocket notes

The notebook entry was brief:

07:45  rain stopped
08:10  web fully lit
08:35  most droplets gone

The timing is approximate, but enough to find the same light on another clear morning. About these notes explains the small record kept with each walk.