It was a delightful morning for our fungi walk yesterday - the early mist disappeared and the sun came out. The leaves are starting to turn golden and fairytale fly agaric toadstools are popping up to brighten up the damp, dark places with their jewel-like colours. And all of the grasses and brambles were adorned with dew-covered spider’s webs.
Photo by Phil Thornton
I can’t help but admire the beauty of the scene – lace-like webs decorated with diamonds – but at the same time I can’t help but shudder at the thought of just how many spiders are ‘out there’!
It’s also the time of year when the male house spiders start wandering around – all long hairy legs and waving palps – and seem to find your bathroom or bedroom particularly alluring...I have to admit to not being terribly brave when it comes to spiders so decided that now was the time to confront my fear, find out a bit more about them and do a bit of myth busting along the way.
I’m going to start with the orb web spiders, such as the familiar garden spiders who spin the most beautiful circular webs and fastidiously repair them should they be broken by a passing creature who’s too big to be trapped.
Photo by Chris Prince
We may even welcome the presence of one of these spiders in our gardens as they trap other insects that we might consider to be pests, injecting them with venom, wrapping them in silk and then waiting for their insides to liquefy before sucking them up like soup. It will often be the plump female who we see positioned at the centre of her web. The male is much smaller and his courtship of the female is full of peril - having mated the female does sometimes have the male has a snack!
Amongst this group is the exotic looking wasp spider with vivid black and yellow banding. We occasionally find these in the long grass at Pulborough Brooks, with their webs spun low down in the grass ready to catch their favourite prey – grasshoppers. It is sometimes known as the ‘Writing Spider’ as it forms letters in its web.
Viewed perhaps with less apprehension are money spiders who weave handkerchief-sized hammocks over the bushes in autumn. If one lands on you or you spot one in mid air descending down its invisible thread it will bring you good luck and prosperity.
Not all spiders spin webs... we have some that are ambush predators. Wolf spiders look slightly felted with dappled greys and browns. The female can be seen carrying her egg sack around with her and sometimes giving her spiderlings a lift on her back. The male attracts his mate by singing - or at least what passes for singing in the spider world – a low purr made by rubbing his palps together.
There are jumping spiders whose jerky movements make them rather like articulated toys. They leap on their prey having spun a safety harness first - they are bungee jumpers!. One to look out for is the zebra spider – a rather cute black and white striped creature who claims a warm window or fence post as its hunting ground. Apparently, this spider has the best eyesight of any invertebrate.
Photo by Anna Allum
Crab spiders have wide bodies and outstretched legs like a crab’s claws. They rely on camouflage; the flower crab spider has a chameleon like ability to change colour – pink, yellow or white to match the flower.
We then come to spiders in the home. Daddy long leg spiders create a scaffolding of fine threads in un-dusted corners of the house. They bring a benefit that you are less likely to suffer from other spiders if you have a Daddy long-legs spider in residence.
Thankfully there is no evidence to support the myth that we swallow half a dozen spiders in our sleep every year, but I’m not at the stage where I can encourage house spiders and invite them into my home. Whilst these are the ones I struggle with most (they once held the world spider record for speed) I can’t blame them for coming in and exploring – they are designed to live inside and the males are just eager to look for a mate. Apparently, placing a conker in each corner of your room works as a deterrent. I’ve not yet tried it, and don’t know if there is any science involved, but as it is also the season for conkers it might be worth a try!