Spinsters of this Parish

THERE ARE bumper numbers of spiders and more Daddy Longlegs (crane flies) this Autumn according to the excellent conservation body Buglife. (Yes, they do have a web site.)

Strictly Daddy Longlegs have very long legs, transparent wings and a blunt back end. Those with pointed ends for egg laying are presumably Mummy Longlegs (and the Irish ones are Paddy Longlegs?) They all emerge from the long grey legless larvae we call leatherjackets which get down to the grassroots that we want to be left a lawn.

The commonest spider indoors this month is Pholcus, the Daddy Longlegs spider which spins fine cobwebs of silk to catch flies and other insects. The house spider that may come running across the carpet is Tegenaria which produces mats or sheets of webbing. If it appears in the bath it has come in through the overflow or slid down the sides and has a reputation for perseverance ever since Robert the Bruce became the first man to consult a spin doctor.

Years ago the banana warehouse in Lingfield parish was the source of exotic species, one of which, a fist-sized bird-eating spider,  was promptly named Cuddles by the kind white-coated ladies of the local pest control laboratory, who fed it on cockroaches.

The lack of tortoiseshell butterflies this year has been attributed to a small parasitic fly from southern Europe, which lays its eggs on the same nettles as the caterpillars and then devours them from within. Like Sin.

As Summer Time ends, apart from the return to TV of 'Autumnwatch', the astronomers are holding a November Moonwatch. Jupiter will still be bright, Orion's studded belt will be let out and if the sky is clear we might see a Leonid meteor shower as 'shooting stars'. Keep looking up!

After a drive up to Downe to visit Darwin's house and gardens and the impressive presentation of his work, we watched a dozen wild parakeets stripping open sweet chestnuts from one of the trees he planted. Expect them on the Evelyn Chestnuts any year now.

Oh, and recent research has shown that early relatives of those spiders lived before dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago. Enjoy their descendants when frost is on their webs.

Peter Bateman.