Scottish Spider Search

Indoors in houses, outhouses and cellars where it is protected from low temperatures. It favours undisturbed corners where it can build its untidy web.

Craneflies may look similar but are insects with six long legs, three body sections and a pair of wings. Harvestmen also have very long legs but have a more rounded body, made up of just one section.

This spider is widespread in the southern half of Britain but there are relatively few records from Scotland. However, observations suggest the spider is spreading northwards and it is likely that it is more widespread in Scotland than we think. They can be found in houses all year round and are not fussy eaters, preying on anything that becomes entangled in their webs, including other spiders. They will even eat much larger house spiders. They use their long legs to escape being bitten whilst throwing silk over their victim to immobilise it. More information can be found here.

Found on vegetation that is strong and tall enough to support it. It lives in habitats like undisturbed grassland, heather and gorse but is not normally found in gardens. The web is usually stretched across a gap between plants and the spider can often be found hiding in a large tent-like retreat to one side.

Can be confused with the Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) which looks similar but with markings forming more like a cross on its abdomen. The garden spider is more likely to be found in gardens and close to buildings but can also be found in the same habitat as Four-Spot Orb Weavers.

It is the heaviest spider in the UK and reaches maturity in late summer/autumn, when females can appear extremely large as their abdomens distend with eggs. More information can be found here.

Adults tend to occur in tall vegetation in habitats like rough grassland, woodland rides, heathland and marsh edges.

Species belonging to the group wolf spiders have an egg sac which they carry attached to their spinnerets at the end of their abdomen and are most often found running over the ground. Silk tents with a more open structure and containing spiderlings with distinctive round, yellow abdomens marked with a dark, backward pointing triangle, belong to orb-weaving spiders.

The Nursery Web Spider is the most abundant in the south of the UK. There are scattered records throughout Scotland but very few from southern Scottish regions. In summer, the female carries her whitish egg sac under teh front of her body, held firmly in the mouthparts. Before the young spiders hatch, the mother constructs her nursery – a conspicuous, dense silk tent, built amongst strong vegetation. Oncer her young hatch, she is usually found on guard on the outside the tent while the cluster of spiderlings rest inside. More information can be found here.

Most commonly encountered on sunny walls and fences but may be found indoors, usually near a window. They are sometimes found in more natural habitats, on rocks or occasionally tree trunks in open places.

Salticus cingulatus is another jumping spider, usually found on trunks and lower tree branches in or near woodland and heathland.

Zebra Spiders don’t build webs to catch their prey – they actively hunt by creeping up and pouncing on it. They can swivel and focus the large front pair of eyes, providing excellent binocular vision to track moving prey. The other six eyes are fixed and detect movement from the sides and rear. More information can be found here.