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.
Always uplifting to see a struggling native species doing well. Hope I get to see one of these beauties up close one day, shame they are still limited to just a few locations.
And it was that very summer, when taking a leisurely swim in one of Britain’s lakes, that ns1 got his wish, his face surfacing directly underneath an alarmed seven-centimeter giant raft spider on the hunt.
Don’t think I’d want to subject the poor spider to that, however funny it would be for onlookers!