Wildlife in the garden - spiders

There’s no denying it: September is spider season.  As well as encountering those enormous house spiders which seem to wait until you’re settled on the sofa to gallop across your living room floor, you’re also likely to repeatedly walk through webs slung across every path, gateway and entrance in your garden!

We may not always welcome their presence, but spiders are a valuable part of the ecosystem of our outdoor spaces.  And let’s face it, their webs can be fascinating to look at, and very pretty to spot on an autumn morning hung with dewdrops or frost.

The orb weaver or garden spider is the creator of these elaborate constructions – it’s one of the most common spiders in the UK and builds a new web every day, consuming the old one to digest the protein it contains, before spinning a fresh spiral.  Spotted a web in the corner of your greenhouse?  These can be helpful at snagging flies, aphids and fungus gnats so don’t be too quick to clear out the cobwebs – your eight-legged lodger is actually helping with pest control.