Something Nasty in the Roof – A job for Spiderman
THE UK's most venomous species of spider – resembling the Black Widow – has been found in a Fraddon garage.
Craig Broad was in the garage of his Florence Court home on Saturday when he discovered the noble false widow spider – a relative of the famous spider.
Craig, who works at St Eval Kart Circuit, said: "I was in the garage doing a few things and this bluebottle was making a racket. I thought to be kind I should open the door and show it the way out. But then it went quiet.
"I looked around and just briefly saw a huge spider retract back into a dark crevice holding the bluebottle. I spent the rest of my weekend in the garage trying to identify it."
Craig was able to quickly solve the mystery, after a few pictures and a bit of research, as a noble false widow spider.
"When I read they appear to be the UK's most venomous spider, I was impressed not scared," said Craig.
"I've grown fond of it and spent nearly the whole weekend in the garage with it. It was obvious to me that it was a widow of some sort, but that doesn't put me off."
The noble false widow spider has been in the UK for just over 100 years, mainly around the south coast of the country.
There are about 640 species of spider in the UK, which only 12 of these are known to bite humans in the UK. The severity of symptoms from any spider bite depends on the amount of venom that is injected.
False widow spider bites have been reported to include symptoms such as chest pains, swelling at the site of the bite and tingling of fingers.
A spokesman from Buglife, the invertebrate conservation trust, said: "We get a lot of calls from people asking about these spiders.
"People see how large they are and fear for their safety. But they shouldn't. The noble false widow attacking a human would be unheard of.
"Their bite is like the sting of a wasp. The severity varies from person to person but largely is harmless to humans."
This is Cornwall: November 2009
