So we're down in the South Lakes for a long weekend and we thought we'd squeeze in a little
bit of spider searching because this part of the South Lakes in Cumbria is a perfect habitat
for a very special spider so this south facing hillside is perfect habitat
it's covered in limestone rocks and this is what this spider needs it needs to stay warm
so the spider that lives in this area it's the UK's only Mygalomorph spider
and it's more closely related to the tarantulas which we normally search for on field trips
So it only took us a few moments of rock turning to find our first burrow
now this is under this rock, I'm going to give you a closer look at it
So its common name is the Purseweb spider because it lives in a silken sock with a section of about
five centimetres above ground and then up to about 15 centimetres underground as the chamber at the
bottom. So the way the web works is the spider sits in the bottom half of the burrow and just
waits it's a bit of an ambush predator eventually something like a small grasshopper of which there
are lots around this area will walk across the top of the sock web and the spider feels the
vibration underground it'll come to the surface but it never actually leaves the web it'll stay
inside the safety of the tube and you'll notice on the spider it's got huge fangs huge chelicerae
which it uses to pierce through that soft web and capture the prey without having to leave
the safety of its burrow once the prey is subdued enough it then cuts the silk away and drags the
prey inside and then it will repair the damage to that sock web on the surface of the ground
So the spider was successfully extracted unharmed allowing us to have a closer look at it
As I said earlier Atypus affinis is the UK's only mygalomorph meaning that it belongs to a
group of spiders characterized by the fact that their jaws move in a vertical plane
striking downward rather than side to side like more modern spiders this is just like
the much larger theraphosids or tarantulas so this spider is often referred to as the UK tarantula
This species is found throughout much of western and central Europe but here in the UK it's more
common in the south but as this image shows from the British Arachnological Society website
Cumbria is one of the most northerly recorded sites
These spiders don't just live under rocks often they build their burrows out in the open
but turning rocks makes their otherwise well camouflaged burrows easier to find
Despite searching this area for another 40 minutes or so we were unable to find any more burrows
Purseweb spiders are long-lived in comparison to most UK spiders
and some records say even up to 8 or 10 years. This is a female specimen we found and males look
very similar apart from their longer legs and even bigger jaws males are slightly smaller and active
during late August through September and even into October if the weather remains mild enough.
Females hibernate through the winter in the safety of their underground burrows.
Autumn is the mating season when males and females live together the male dying soon after mating and
often being eaten by the female. The female lays her eggsac inside the tube and the spiderlings
hatch out the following summer remaining with the female for up to another year after that.
They then can take around four years to mature.
So there you have it one of the UK's most scarce spiders and certainly one of the most fascinating.
Filming done spider was returned to her burrow no worse for the experience
and the stone replaced where we found it.