{"id":792006,"date":"2026-10-04T20:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792006\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T20:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:36:12","slug":"spider-season-big-spiders-enter-uk-homes-as-tarantulas-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792006\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider season: Big spiders enter UK homes as tarantulas seen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Homeowners across the country have noticed a rise in the number of spiders as well as their size in recent weeks.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This comes after news that tarantulas were confirmed to be in the UK in the form of purseweb spiders.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Berkshire, Buckinghamshire &amp; Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) provided some information in previous Octobers on why the spiders are making their way into homes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordmail.co.uk\/news\/26605459.celebrity-tv-chefs-flagship-restaurant-uk-closes-14-years\/?ref=ed_recent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Celebrity TV chef&#8217;s flagship restaurant in UK closes down after 14 years<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A BBOWT spokesperson said: \u201cSpiders live alongside us all year round and this is something to celebrate, not fear.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThese amazing animals are a vital part of our ecosystems, feeding on an astounding number of insects.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cSome spiders have found their perfect home in our houses, hiding away behind furniture and hunting the other invertebrates that find their way inside, from house flies to wasps and mosquitoes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThey tend to keep themselves to themselves, preferring dark corners where they can live in peace.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cBut in late summer and early autumn, some spiders become more active as males reach maturity and seek out a female to woo.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordmail.co.uk\/news\/26605411.liam-gallaghers-one-word-response-4m-purchase-cotswolds\/?ref=ed_recent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Liam Gallagher&#8217;s one-word response to his \u00a34m purchase in Cotswolds<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  BBC researcher Adele Brand confirmed that alongside the regular spiders are tarantulas in the form of Britain\u2019s only species, the purseweb spider.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The purseweb is a stay-at-home spider and spends most of its life inside that silken tube, which has been compared to an old purse and a dirty sock, hence its name.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This whole structure can be up to 25cm long but only a small part protrudes above the soil surface.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Missouri Department of Conservation\u00a0says: &#8220;Purseweb spiders have large, imposing chelicerae, and like nearly all other spiders, they possess venom to subdue their prey and\u00a0can potentially bite a human if mishandled.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;But purseweb spider bites do not pose a danger to people, except for the rare cases of people who are highly sensitive to spider bites.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordmail.co.uk\/news\/26605325.michael-gove-splits-26-years-younger-oxford-university-lecturer\/?ref=ed_recent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Gove splits up from 26 years younger Oxford University lecturer<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Aside from the tarantulas, many Oxfordshire and UK residents harbour a fear of arachnids due to biting, but Berkshire, Buckinghamshire &amp; Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust has allayed such fears.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe fear of spiders often comes from worries about being bitten, but in reality, very few spiders in the UK are even capable of biting a person, and the small number that can rarely do,\u201d added the spokesperson.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cFor example, the noble false widow spider receives the worst press, but although they can bite, they are not aggressive and are only likely to do so if roughly handled.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cIn the rare, confirmed cases where a noble false widow has bitten someone, the bite has been compared to a wasp sting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Homeowners across the country have noticed a rise in the number of spiders as well as their size&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-792006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}