Spider season

As you may guess from the title of this post, it's not one for arachnophobes! So if you hate spiders, perhaps you would like to read a different post?

My house is generally home to a large number of spiders, mostly 'daddy long-legs spiders' Pholcus phalangioides. They are a synanthropic species, that is, a non-domesticated species which benefits from their association with people, in this case, houses with a mean temperature above 10 degrees C. The numbers here are partly due to my laziness when it comes to housework, but I rather like them hanging around, dealing with flies and so on. Apart from the mess they leave, as they clean their webs by cutting their prey out of it and leaving them to drop, shed their skins five or six times as they mature and they produce lots of unstructured web which festoons the upper corners of rooms, they are no trouble at all. When disturbed, they gyrate rapidly in their web, which helps confuse potential predators and trap unwary flies, entangling rather than sticking them to the web. They look dainty and fragile, but are surprisingly avid hunters, and will eat other spiders (including other Pholcus and their own young if no other food is available) as well as woodlice - I've even seen one take on a dozy wasp and win. Yet they are very gentle and ticklish if you happen to have one descend on you (an occupational hazard in my showers). The female carries around her egg bundle and newly-hatched spiderlings in her jaws, until her babies go their own way.

Pholcus phalangioides, the 'daddy long-legs spider'

Around the start of September, I found that a lovely, golden-coloured spider had moved into the living room, near the window. At first, I thought it might be male, but over the next few weeks, fed on a a good supply of flies which had strayed into the web, the spider doubled in size, was slightly greener (though still golden in setting sun) and was evidently a female Araneus diadematus (often referred to as the 'garden spider' or 'crowned orb-weaver'). I've nicknamed her the Golden Girl. I haven't managed to get a good photo of her though - she spends most of her time tucked up on the window surround with a toe on the line into the web. The ones in the garden, like this one I found at St Ishmaels Garden Centre, tend to hang around in the centre of the web.

Araneus diadematus adult female, big and beautiful!

In the second week of October, I saw another spider in the corner of the adjacent window to the Golden Girl. On closer inspection, it was a female Zygiella x-notata (often referred to as the 'missing sector orb weaver' because their webs generally have a section missing from the circle) with a fresh egg mass covered with strands of spider silk which looked like finely-spun gold.

Zygiella x-notata female with egg mass

Not an ideal location, as the Golden Girl would happily have eaten her. Maybe she has, as Ms Zxn disappeared a few weeks ago. The eggs aren't due to hatch until spring (assuming I don't clean up and remove them). I saw three of the same species around the kitchen window.

I saw a male Amaurobius (not sure of species, probably fenestralis or similis) on the wall near the back door, and a female of (presumably) the same species has decided that the downstairs shower mat is hers. As I don't generally use that shower in winter (a bit too chilly!) she can stay there, for the time being. They look pretty scary, as the females are quite big (ha, all of 12 mm!) with big jaws. Their close relation Amaurobius ferox can bite, but they would all prefer to run away and the only problem is usually if you pick them up and they feel threatened. I had problems getting a photo of the female, as all she wanted to do was move away from the light, but managed in the end.

Amaurobius sp female

Amaurobius sp male

The weather has been unsettled for a while now, and there wasn't much evidence of spiders outside when I went down the garden earlier today. At this time of year, numbers of adults start to fall off. Those outside might find more prey, but both the spiders and the flies are vulnerable to the weather. No wonder some spiders prefer to find the shelter of sheds and houses. Even so, there are fewer flies in houses once the weather gets colder too. The Golden Girl Araneus is still hanging on, but as with the Zygiella around the windows and the Amaurobius sharing the shower, it's only a matter of time before this year's adults give way to the next generation.