One of Britain's rarest spiders is being reintroduced at a nature reserve in Dorset.
Ladybird spiders were once feared to be extinct in the UK but recently numbers have been rising.
On Thursday, a new colony is being moved to a species-rich heathland reserve.
Conservationists have found that the best way to transfer them to their new home is to make temporary burrows for the spiders out of empty water bottles.
Ladybird spiders get their name from the bright red and black markings of the mature males. They are extremely rare and are also elusive, spending most of their lives underground.
According to the RSPB, in 1994 there was just one remaining colony in the UK. A web count in that colony found that only 56 individual spiders were left.
But over the past few years, conservation efforts have seen numbers increasing to more than 1,000. This has involved captive breeding, reintroduction and habitat restoration.
Even so, the spiders are still only found at a few sites in Dorset. And on Thursday, about 30 are being released at the RSPB's Arne reserve in the county.
The reserve is already home to 240 species of spider.
RSPB Arne warden Toby Branston said: "To be introducing such a rare new species here is very exciting, and I hope we can help spread it further."
The spiders were captured at another location and put into empty mineral water bottles that were filled with heather and moss. Researchers say the bottles are an ideal shape and size for the spiders to make their nests.
The team of conservationists will dig holes for the bottles at the reserve. It is hoped that the spiders will colonise the surrounding heathland.
By Daniel Boettcher
Correspondent, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14479661
Showing posts with label rare spider. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rare spider. Show all posts
Friday, August 12, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Rare spider discovered in nature reserve in Poole
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| This incredibly rare arachnid, with a wacky human face on its back, has been discovered on a nature reserve in Poole, the first one found in 35 years |
By Lara Tollast
YOU WOULD have thought that finding a tiny, rare, fury animal with the markings of a friendly face on its back would have brought families flocking to see it at the Arne nature reserve in Poole.
Tony Whitehead of the RSPB said: “If this were a bird, rather like the recent oriental turtle dove, the queues would be stretching around the car park.”
So why is this tiny critter so lonely?
Perhaps it’s the fact that it also has eight legs, eight eyes, and the ability to scare Miss Muffet right off her tuffet.
The eloquently named Philodromus Margaritatus spider was discovered by RSPB volunteer Chris Emblem-English on an electricity junction box at the reserve in Poole. What makes this eight-legged beauty so special is that it had not been seen in Dorset for more than 30 years.
“This spider is something of a rarity”, Whitehead adds.
For centuries spiders have been on the receiving end of bad press, when only a small handful are capable of harming a human.
Perhaps the fear of spiders comes not only from their appearance but their cunning predatory methods. The fact they construct a web – a trap invisible to its ill-fated prey, is vindictively morbid and easily creepier than the tactics of other larger predators. If spiders were the size of Alsatians we would have fair reason to live in fear of them, so let’s thank mother nature that she made them so small.
Laura Dunne, 22 from Bournemouth says: “I don’t like them because they are so small, and it’s knowing that they could be hiding under your bed and you wouldn’t even know.”
Strange, then, that this fearful disdain is coupled with the belief that some spiders bring you luck. Money spiders are traditionally thought to bring wealth to those who cross their eight-legged path, and circling the spider around your head three times before tucking it in your pocket may make for more financial sense than buying lottery tickets.
The association between spiders and money stems from the belief that spiders attract wealth to people in the same way those spiders attract their prey. This theory dates back to the Romans, who would carry a little gold or silver spider in their pockets for good luck in trade.
Perhaps the best thing about spiders is that their eating habits stop us from being overrun with other creepy crawlies, such as disease-spreading flies. In Papa New Guinea and South America, spiders themselves are included in some traditional foods.
Eat them, fear them or fling them around your head, remember that spiders are more sacred of you than you are of them. As the old saying goes, “If you want to live and thrive then let a spider run alive”.
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/8879618.Rare_spider_discovered_in_nature_reserve_in_Poole/
Monday, November 22, 2010
Rosser's sac photographed
First pictures of rare wetland spider in Cambridgeshire
A spider that was feared extinct in the UK has been photographed for the first time after a new colony of the species was found.
The Rosser's sac spider, which had not been seen for 10 years, has been discovered at Chippenham Fen in Cambridgeshire.
It makes its home in wetland areas and had been found only once before, at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.
Fears were growing that the spider had died out due to loss of habitat.
The light brown spider was first discovered in the 1950s, but the draining of the fens and changing farming practices since the World War II had put it under threat.
Spider enthusiast Ian Dawson spotted a Rosser's sac spider in September at the Cambridgeshire site, and a further search in October revealed 10 spiders.
He said: "I was extremely surprised to find the first one and then when we went back a month later it was great to find more of them.
"If we've managed to find 10 of them, I think there must be quite a sizeable population of Rosser's at that particular site."
The first photographs of live Rosser's sac spiders were taken by Peter Harvey, who took part in the second survey.
'Still creeping around'
Matt Shardlow, chief executive of insect conservation charity Buglife said: "This spider is globally endangered.
"It's fantastic that it's still creeping around in the British countryside and we're ecstatic that people can now see what it looks like for the first time in history.
"If we want future generations to be able to see the live animal, we will need to take great care of the tiny remaining fragments of wild wetlands in this country and reinstate large areas of lost fen."
Mike Taylor, of Natural England, which manages the Chippenham Fen reserve, said: "Rosser's sac spiders spend their days hidden in tubular silken retreats, often in a folded leaf, a bit like a sleeping bag.
"It's a member of the clubionid family of spiders who like to hunt their prey rather than catch them in a web.
"We were delighted that they have been spotted recently."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11806723
A spider that was feared extinct in the UK has been photographed for the first time after a new colony of the species was found.
The Rosser's sac spider, which had not been seen for 10 years, has been discovered at Chippenham Fen in Cambridgeshire.
It makes its home in wetland areas and had been found only once before, at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.
Fears were growing that the spider had died out due to loss of habitat.
The light brown spider was first discovered in the 1950s, but the draining of the fens and changing farming practices since the World War II had put it under threat.
Spider enthusiast Ian Dawson spotted a Rosser's sac spider in September at the Cambridgeshire site, and a further search in October revealed 10 spiders.
He said: "I was extremely surprised to find the first one and then when we went back a month later it was great to find more of them.
"If we've managed to find 10 of them, I think there must be quite a sizeable population of Rosser's at that particular site."
The first photographs of live Rosser's sac spiders were taken by Peter Harvey, who took part in the second survey.
'Still creeping around'
Matt Shardlow, chief executive of insect conservation charity Buglife said: "This spider is globally endangered.
"It's fantastic that it's still creeping around in the British countryside and we're ecstatic that people can now see what it looks like for the first time in history.
"If we want future generations to be able to see the live animal, we will need to take great care of the tiny remaining fragments of wild wetlands in this country and reinstate large areas of lost fen."
Mike Taylor, of Natural England, which manages the Chippenham Fen reserve, said: "Rosser's sac spiders spend their days hidden in tubular silken retreats, often in a folded leaf, a bit like a sleeping bag.
"It's a member of the clubionid family of spiders who like to hunt their prey rather than catch them in a web.
"We were delighted that they have been spotted recently."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11806723
Rosser's sac photographed
First pictures of rare wetland spider in Cambridgeshire
A spider that was feared extinct in the UK has been photographed for the first time after a new colony of the species was found.
The Rosser's sac spider, which had not been seen for 10 years, has been discovered at Chippenham Fen in Cambridgeshire.
It makes its home in wetland areas and had been found only once before, at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.
Fears were growing that the spider had died out due to loss of habitat.
The light brown spider was first discovered in the 1950s, but the draining of the fens and changing farming practices since the World War II had put it under threat.
Spider enthusiast Ian Dawson spotted a Rosser's sac spider in September at the Cambridgeshire site, and a further search in October revealed 10 spiders.
He said: "I was extremely surprised to find the first one and then when we went back a month later it was great to find more of them.
"If we've managed to find 10 of them, I think there must be quite a sizeable population of Rosser's at that particular site."
The first photographs of live Rosser's sac spiders were taken by Peter Harvey, who took part in the second survey.
'Still creeping around'
Matt Shardlow, chief executive of insect conservation charity Buglife said: "This spider is globally endangered.
"It's fantastic that it's still creeping around in the British countryside and we're ecstatic that people can now see what it looks like for the first time in history.
"If we want future generations to be able to see the live animal, we will need to take great care of the tiny remaining fragments of wild wetlands in this country and reinstate large areas of lost fen."
Mike Taylor, of Natural England, which manages the Chippenham Fen reserve, said: "Rosser's sac spiders spend their days hidden in tubular silken retreats, often in a folded leaf, a bit like a sleeping bag.
"It's a member of the clubionid family of spiders who like to hunt their prey rather than catch them in a web.
"We were delighted that they have been spotted recently."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11806723
A spider that was feared extinct in the UK has been photographed for the first time after a new colony of the species was found.
The Rosser's sac spider, which had not been seen for 10 years, has been discovered at Chippenham Fen in Cambridgeshire.
It makes its home in wetland areas and had been found only once before, at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.
Fears were growing that the spider had died out due to loss of habitat.
The light brown spider was first discovered in the 1950s, but the draining of the fens and changing farming practices since the World War II had put it under threat.
Spider enthusiast Ian Dawson spotted a Rosser's sac spider in September at the Cambridgeshire site, and a further search in October revealed 10 spiders.
He said: "I was extremely surprised to find the first one and then when we went back a month later it was great to find more of them.
"If we've managed to find 10 of them, I think there must be quite a sizeable population of Rosser's at that particular site."
The first photographs of live Rosser's sac spiders were taken by Peter Harvey, who took part in the second survey.
'Still creeping around'
Matt Shardlow, chief executive of insect conservation charity Buglife said: "This spider is globally endangered.
"It's fantastic that it's still creeping around in the British countryside and we're ecstatic that people can now see what it looks like for the first time in history.
"If we want future generations to be able to see the live animal, we will need to take great care of the tiny remaining fragments of wild wetlands in this country and reinstate large areas of lost fen."
Mike Taylor, of Natural England, which manages the Chippenham Fen reserve, said: "Rosser's sac spiders spend their days hidden in tubular silken retreats, often in a folded leaf, a bit like a sleeping bag.
"It's a member of the clubionid family of spiders who like to hunt their prey rather than catch them in a web.
"We were delighted that they have been spotted recently."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11806723
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