Hello friend - Mothercare Spider

Spotting this Mothercare Spider - Theridion sisyphium was very exciting! They're fairly common but not the easiest to ID, and as the name suggests, this species stands out for how the females nuture their children. I found this description from A Natural History of Britain quite charming -

Within the web, the female spider builds a dense silk retreat among leaves and leftovers of eaten insects. Here the spiderlings will hatch from a blue-green egg sac. In their first days they are fed by their mother, who regurgitates digested food into their mouths, behaviour we associate with birds. While nestlings signal their hunger by opening their bills wide, baby Mothercare spiders clutch at their mother’s legs to remind her it’s time to eat again. Soon they will be tucking into whole insects, which the mother has softened for them by breaking down the tough exterior. The spiderlings then begin to help catch the prey with their own silk. 

I'm sure the part about the spiderlings clutching at their mothers leg to signal their hunger will resonate with parents of toddlers! I found the bird reference fascinating because the cup-shaped silk den is what initially caught my eye, and when I saw the greenish egg sac looking like a single birds egg, I instantly thought of a Song Thrush nest.