Teh One Who Knocks
11-02-2015, 12:48 PM
Jen Mills for Metro.co.uk
http://i.imgur.com/vt3wuzR.jpg
Britain’s biggest spider is having a baby boom thanks to ideal weather conditions.
The fen raft spider is as large as an adult’s palm – or a rat, if you prefer – and is the closest thing the UK has to a tarantula. Its hairless body has long legs, a dark body and cream stripes down the side and it prefers to live in dark boggy places.
So far, so scary and no, this isn’t a Halloween joke.
Thankfully though, it poses no threat to humans and you’re unlikely to come across one lurking in the shower because at the moment they mainly live in RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in the Norfolk Broads.
That doesn’t mean they’re not going to spread their eight-legged empire further, though. More than 1,000 nursery webs have been counted in Suffolk, and each one can give birth to thousands of babies.
http://i.imgur.com/zzcou3p.jpg
Tim Strudwick, RSPB conservationist in Norfolk, said: ‘The spiders are doing so well due to the excellent condition of the habitat and our management of the grazing marshes maintaining ideal conditions for them.
‘It is great to see the spiders are responding by extending their range into new ditches.”
The creature was close to being wiped out in the UK just a few years ago but has crawled to an impressive comeback.
Spiderlings (baby spiders are really called that!) were released at Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve just five years ago but they have already spread to occupy more than 1.5 miles of ditches, from covering just 500 metres at first.
‘It’s already made a great start on colonising the area’s extensive ditch networks and, in the process, has taken a big step back from the brink,’ conservationist Dr Helen Smith said.
http://i.imgur.com/vt3wuzR.jpg
Britain’s biggest spider is having a baby boom thanks to ideal weather conditions.
The fen raft spider is as large as an adult’s palm – or a rat, if you prefer – and is the closest thing the UK has to a tarantula. Its hairless body has long legs, a dark body and cream stripes down the side and it prefers to live in dark boggy places.
So far, so scary and no, this isn’t a Halloween joke.
Thankfully though, it poses no threat to humans and you’re unlikely to come across one lurking in the shower because at the moment they mainly live in RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in the Norfolk Broads.
That doesn’t mean they’re not going to spread their eight-legged empire further, though. More than 1,000 nursery webs have been counted in Suffolk, and each one can give birth to thousands of babies.
http://i.imgur.com/zzcou3p.jpg
Tim Strudwick, RSPB conservationist in Norfolk, said: ‘The spiders are doing so well due to the excellent condition of the habitat and our management of the grazing marshes maintaining ideal conditions for them.
‘It is great to see the spiders are responding by extending their range into new ditches.”
The creature was close to being wiped out in the UK just a few years ago but has crawled to an impressive comeback.
Spiderlings (baby spiders are really called that!) were released at Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve just five years ago but they have already spread to occupy more than 1.5 miles of ditches, from covering just 500 metres at first.
‘It’s already made a great start on colonising the area’s extensive ditch networks and, in the process, has taken a big step back from the brink,’ conservationist Dr Helen Smith said.