Spiders

Spiders can be found throughout Wiltshire at most times of the year, they occur in all habitats where they can catch suitable prey and find shelter from the elements. They are mostly seen from late spring until autumn. Many species are nocturnal. Bushes, along with trees and grasses, support the webs of many spiders. Other species don't use webs to snare their prey, but actively hunt or lie in wait for their unwary victims.

Most people come across spiders in their home - mainly the sheet-web spinning Common House Spider and the Daddy Long-legs Spider - or in the garden where even a small area can support twenty or more different species, one of the most noticeable being the Garden Orb-web Spider.

To date there are about 350 species known to occur in Wiltshire and the number keeps on increasing. A rare find in Wiltshire was made on the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Coombe Bissett Down Nature Reserve in September 1999 when 14 female specimens of the striking but harmless Wasp Spider were recorded for the first time in Wiltshire.

To find out more about Wiltshire's spiders take a look at the County Recorders pages