Lockdown Diary: Thursday 9.7.20

Rain kept me in all day, today. Probably the wildlife highlight was while brushing my teeth in the wee room under our stairs. I was terrified by the sudden dropping down of a giant female Daddy-longlegs Spider (Pholcus phalangioides), aka Long-legged Cellar Spider. This ‘room’ is a bit of an arachnophobe’s nightmare, almost a temple dedicated to our spidery friends. I am not sure if the resident house spiders fully embrace the presence of the long-legged recent invaders, as the latter feed on the big chunky bruisers. This ‘dropping’ one though was grabbing and wrapping something tiny in its web, though.

Daddy-longlegs Spider, our downstairs loo, Peterborough, July 2020
I have to admit to being instinctively terrified of sudden appearance or movements of spiders, though my rational brain tells me to admire them!