Warm weather contributes to more spider sightings, but this doesn't necessarily mean more spiders, says Hine, who spent many years dealing with the Museum’s spider identification requests. House spiders are not as common as they used to be - homes are now better sealed and central heating and more disturbance makes them dry and unwelcoming to Tegenaria and Eratigena.

Spiders (Collins Field Guide, Roberts) - despite the brand, this isn't a very useful in the field but does have excellent coverage of palp and epigyne details for those who are able to examine specimens. They aren't bigger, and there aren't really more of them. What we can say is that because of the weather and our windows and doors remaining open, there are more observations of some of the larger species that enter our homes,' says Hine.One spider that benefits from good summer weather is the European garden spider, Araneus diadematus, also known as the garden orb-weaver or cross spider. People often spot the females sitting in the middle of their large webs in gardens or across doors and windows. Jones-Walters, L. M. 1989. Keys to the families of British spiders. AIDGAP. Shrewsbury: Field Studies Council. A very useful key when first starting out with spiders. Placing a spider in the correct family from general appearance becomes easier with experience, but is an essential first step in naming the species. A warm and dry autumn provides a longer season for many of the male spiders, who will roam around for longer rather than finding a dry garage or attic to hide in when it's wet. Hine has been bitten three times by false widows, and each time has experienced 'a slight sting and a little numbness in the area'. Hillyard, P. D. 2005. Harvestmen. Synopses of the British Fauna. Shrewsbury: Field Studies Council. This excellent summary of our harvestman fauna provides accounts of the structure and biology of our 25 species together with easy-to-use illustrated keys and distribution maps.

Some of the most common places in which you can find a giant spider in your house are behind the fireplace, under the sofa or in the bath.They can be found in homes all year round with males living up to two years and females can live up to three years. Spider sightings always peak in the autumn when the males of many species reach adulthood and wander about looking for females, he says. With warmer weather, we keep our doors and windows open longer into spider season, and let more of the wandering males in. The spiders don’t spin webs to catch prey, instead they lie in wait on the floor of the Brazilian rainforest.