More than 750 million spiders in UK
Every home in Britain has at least 30 spiders crawling around, according to the first national survey of the insects.
30-10-2009 By Louise Gray, The Daily Telegraph, UK
Favourable breeding conditions over the autumn mean that spiders and daddy longlegs have thrived this year. In the first public survey, hundreds of members of the public overcame agoraphobia to record 13,265 sightings. Buglife, the insect conservation charity that organised the count, said this equated to 750 million spiders around the country - or at least 30 spiders in every house or garden.
There are lots of spiders about this autumn Photo: GETTY
The most common species, being recorded by nine out of ten of participants, was the garden cross spider. In Nottingham 150 of the spiders were recorded in one garden and in Lancashire a new world record may have been set by a spider's web measuring 15ft across.
Spiders were also found indoors, with 43 common house spiders spotted in one house in Norfolk.
Daddy longlegs were recorded in Scotland and North East of England, suggesting the species is moving north with climate change. In the south the species is thriving with 315 counted by one person in Cambridgeshire.
Bronzed tube web spiders, that give off an iridescent green glow, were found inside a cavity wall in Bristol. Other rare species included spitting spiders, stripy zebra jumping spiders and purse spiders - the only relation to the tarantula found in Britain.
Sarah Henshall of Buglife said most houses will have more than 30 spiders in them since the survey only shows those insects people are able to spot.
“In autumn people often become more aware of spiders – large, conspicuous house spiders are actively searching for mates and Garden cross spiders are getting fat with eggs," she said. "Spiders are amazing animals that live fascinating and useful lives."
(Bron: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)
(Bron foto: Daily Telegraph)
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