Eden Wild Goose Nature
Nature notes from the Focus Magazine February 2022

How do you feel about spiders?

I suppose that might depend on a lot of factors. For a start, where in the world are you living? I think I might feel somewhat differently about them if I lived in a more tropical part of the world, whereas here in good old, relatively safe Britain, there isn’t one spider type that can do humans any significant harm- so I’m told. Though I do remember unpacking a crate of bananas and finding a particularly large and juicy, fat legged, hairy spider had stowed away among them and illegally entered the UK. Don’t know what happened next-but it wasn’t me who sorted it out, that’s for sure.
 
Childhood memories might help to endear you as you remember IncyWincy climbing up the spout, the old lady who swallowed a spider to catch the fly or clever Charlotte and her web. But then again, maybe none of these anthropomorphic creations do it for you and you still hate them.
 
I reckon I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to spiders. Who hasn’t been transfixed by the sight of a thousand cobwebs glimmering in the early morning sun caught in the dewy grass of a September field, noticed the spindrift gossamer threads catching the wind, or wondered at the marvellous complexity of the web strung carefully across your windowpane, often with its maker lingering nearby, watching for its dinner?
 
On the other hand, I get fewer poetic thrills when I spot a large spider running across my bedroom floor, just as I’m about to turn in for the night. Will it climb up my bed and run across my face while I sleep? And if I catch it, how should I dispose of it? Not the loo surely, or down the plug- How about a parachute out of the window? I read somewhere that will likely kill the poor thing as well- such dilemmas!
 
Not so long ago, we had a dodgy burglar alarm, so we called for the burglar alarm man- as you do. He stood in my living room, and delivered his patriarchal, and frankly rather ‘judgy’ view… ‘you’ve not been watching out for your cobwebs, that’s your problem. You need to regularly check your sensors for cobwebs or else the movement of a spider will set off your alarm’. Hmm… not so sure about that.… Living in a house with very high ceilings, I reckon, is a good excuse for skipping his advice and hosting a good number of webs. Our granddaughter loves to point out all the cobwebs to me and I explain to her that it’s all fine, they’re just our spider friends’ homes.
 
Mary Oliver, the nature poet, writes with affection of the spider who lives in the corner of her staircase.  She tells us she takes great care NOT to disturb the spider, especially when she notices that there is also a spider egg nursery. She reflects that the spider needs and deserves a warm, safe home just as much as she does, and she’s happy to share. I think that’s rather wonderful, reminding us that we are not the only ones who matter.
 
Well, these spidery musings were prompted by an article in our excellent Cumbria Wildlife magazine which tells us many reasons why we might learn to love these fellow residents. Apparently, there are at least 365 spider species in Cumbria alone, and the author, Dave Blackledge, ends by suggesting on your next walk you stick your nose down in the grass and get spotting. So, if we should meet and you find me nose down and bum up in the air like our Labrador, you might be able to guess why.

Philippa Skinner
 
Mary Oliver, Upstream, Penguin Press, 2016
Cumbria Wildlife, November 2021, issue 122