Orb weaver spiders

Why do spiders seem bigger in the autumn...

I am well aware that many people don't like spiders. For some reason, they scare us. Is it their eight legs, their rapid speed across our carpets or perhaps their ability to just 'appear' when you least expect them? Whatever the reason, autumn may not be an arachnophobe's favourite season! For me, however, it's sheer delight.

Last year, the Natural History Museum ran a 'Fat Spider Fortnight' campaign in September. A little like our Wildlife Sightings scheme, it was designed to get people looking for and recording the spiders they found. Why 'fat spider'? Autumn is the time when many species are fully mature (so at their largest) and when females are full of eggs (even bigger). So what spiders might you spot in your garden or on your travels around Worcestershire?

Garden cross orb weaver

Garden cross spider (cross pattern in white on its abdomen) on a leaf by Wendy Carter — Garden cross spider by Wendy Carter

These large and distinctively marked spiders are one of the most common spiders found in gardens. Look amongst the foliage in your garden or local green space for large 'orb' webs (the kind of web you think of if you think of a typical spider web). Look closely at the centre of the web and you'll hopefully spot a female sat there, waiting for prey to unwittingly fly into the sticky silk around her. They vary in colour but always have white dotted markings in the rough shape of a cross on their abdomens (this can become distorted when they get very large).

In September and October, females are particularly noticeable as they're swollen with eggs; and garden cross spiders are protective mums. Imagine you're a spider mum. You've eaten your fill and you no longer need your webbing, you just want to find somewhere quiet to give birth. You wander off to find somewhere sheltered where you spin two silk pads to lay the eggs between. Autumn is drawing on and winter isn't too far away but you protect the next generation for as long as you can, until the cold takes the wind out of your sails and you hope that the eggs will make it through, unharmed, until better weather next spring.

Walnut orb weaver

Another spider to spot in your garden, walnut orb-weavers are most often seen once the sun has set (they're sometimes called the 'evening spider'). Grab a torch and head outside after dark but rather than head for the plants in the garden, run the light over fence panels and posts.

They're surprisingly large and their flattened bodies means that they can spend the daytime safely tucked away in nooks and crannies. Once night falls females emerge to spin a web that she'll sit in the middle of, waiting for prey to stumble into it.

Walnut orb weavers are unmistakeable with dark brown colouring and a wavy 'folium' pattern on the abdomen, which is usually edged with cream. Autumn is a good time for spotting these beauties but if we have a mild winter, it's worth keeping a look out for them then too.

Four-spot orb weaver

With four cream spots on their abdomens, four-spot orb weavers should be easy to identify. And they are once you realise that the rest of their colouring is very variable. In fact, females can change their colour to better match the vegetation that they're sitting on (it takes about three days or so to complete the process)! As with many spiders, females are bigger than the males but both have the four spots but, like the garden cross spiders, the patterning can distort as the females become larger in autumn.

I'm not sure why someone would weigh spiders in order to come up with the fascinating fact but four-spot orb weavers top the charts of spider heaviness, weighing in at a whopping 2.5g! These are spiders to look for when you're out and about in Worcestershire's countryside. Their sheer weight means that they need lots of close, strong vegetation from which to hang their large webs. If you spy a web with no spider, look in the grass heads at the top of the stems as females also spin tubular retreats to get away from the hustle and bustle of web-life.

Loving spiders

I do understand why spiders aren't universally loved but they're an important part of what makes our world go round. There are more than 650 species of spider in the UK and they occupy many different niches, often keeping other species in check. They're diverse and beautiful and you can find them wherever you are - look for differently shaped webs at different heights in vegetation or for legs poking from nooks and crannies on building and fences. They can be protective parents, are just looking for love when they run across your carpet and just want to hide away or be left alone to do their own thing. So next time you spot one of our eight-legged friends, admire its beauty, gently say 'hello' and quietly move on.