Legs be having you! How to create a spider-friendly garden

Where have all these huge spiders in our back gardens come from? It is a question asked a lot at the moment, given the apparent population explosion in recent weeks, and the webs lacing our outdoor spaces. But actually, they’ve been here since early spring. They hatched last autumn, as tiny 1mm spiderlings, from eggs deposited under a silken protective igloo last autumn. At this time of year, they are reaching adult maturity – finally big enough to be noticed.

This year’s warm summer has been kind to spiders, giving them plenty of invertebrate food (mostly flies, but also bees, wasps, butterflies and beetles), and a temperature that speeds up their growth.

So what should you look our for in your garden? Ubiquitous is the garden spider, Araneus diadematus, named after the diadem-like markings on its abdomen. Britain’s largest species is the Araneus quadratus, a great blob of a spider almost as big as a walnut, marked with four pale egg-shaped dots on its abdomen.

Spiders are good to have around. After birds, they are the most important predators of insects, and a cornerstone of the natural balance that usually keeps nuisance blow-flies, houseflies and greenbottles at bay. A healthy spider population is also a good indicator of a healthy insect fauna in the area.

They are also masters of engineering; each will build a web combining up to 20 metres of silk, welded at more than 1,000 joints as the sticky spiral net is laid across 30-40 radiating spokes. And although the total web weighs only half a milligram, it is capable of supporting more than 4,000 times the weight of its creator. It is a truly glorious sight. As autumn dews start to settle, with cooler weather to come, the webs become even more picturesque.

So how can you make your garden more spider-friendly? Think about the open space that spiders like to build their webs across: hedges, fence posts, bushes, tall plants or draped on a clematis thicket. And, crucially, try to leave them be. They have an annual life cycle and will start to disappear when the winter cold arrives, so enjoy them while you can.
Richard Jones is an entomologist and naturalist, and a writer on science, nature and the environment. He is not scared of spiders.