Up to 3,750 female fen raft spiders believed to be at 12 sites across the UK now

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The UK’s largest breed of spiders, which can grow to the size of rats and hunts fish, are making a comeback in Britain.

From near-extinction in 2010 - when only a handful remained as their wetland homes were destroyed by humans - the number of fen raft spiders are now steadily increasing thanks to recent conservation efforts.

The spiders are set to have their best year on record at nature reserves ran by RSBP.

The conservation charity revealed that the most recent survey estimates the total number of female spiders to be up to 3,750 across 12 sites in Norfolk and Suffolk Broads alone.

The spider can spin a web as large as 25cm and can grow to the size of a man’s hand.

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
    8·
    3 months ago

    25 cm web? From a spider up to rat sized? So it is barely large enough for the spider? I have little spiders here at home with larger webs.

    • tobogganablazeMEnglish
      8·
      3 months ago

      The only web they build is a “nursery web” which will hold their egg sacs, so the spider doesn’t have to fit inside.

      Also the spider itself only reaches a maximum leg span of around 7cm (which does NOT make it “the uks largest breed of spider”). Not exactly rat sized in my books, but you can’t have an article about spiders without click-bait, apparently.