Is it me or there are more spiders than usual this year?

[UKer]

It was on the radio yesterday saying that there is a huge increase in daddy long legs this year as the weather has been hot (allowing roots of plants to grow well - which is where they initially grow), then it's been raining which allows them to actually come out from underground as the soil is loosened.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Daddy long legs are not spiders....my kitten and dog eat them...it's always slightly unnerving to see the legs twitching like whiskers in the wrong place till they've chewed them up.
The kitten has caught a fair few spiders in the garden this year...his catching technique (when the web is low enough) makes him look look like a small furry goalie

 

[Mrs Magpie]

...and yes, it's a fantastic year for spiders. I have to pull down loads of webs just to get from one end of my tiny garden to the other...

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

we keep seeing loads of these types around our house.

Once or twice a week.

 

[UKer]

Daddy long legs are not spiders

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_long-legs_spider

Not Spiders?

Another misconception is that the Daddy long-legs spider is not a true spider. This misconception arises from the multiple uses of the name Daddy long-legs. It is the Harvestman (which is also called Daddy long-legs) which is an arachnid but not a true spider. The Daddy long-legs spider is a true spider.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Crane Flies innit.

 

[Bonfirelight]

Crane Flies innit.

Daddy long legs is used variously for both, confusingly enough.

crane flys to me though. you should make it a poll.

daddy long legs

or

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm a bit of an amateur entomologist and I'm definitely an arachnophile...tbh I've only heard crane-flies and harvestmen described as Daddy-Long-Legs, except by Americans who tend to mean gangly types of spiders....

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Too many spiders round here over the past few weeks, with a big increase in both live and dead ones over the past few days. I'm thinking there's some sort of vampire spider praying on others. Fuckers give me the creeps. I have a loan of my sister's cat for a week, so I'm hoping she'll kill them.

 

[gaijingirl]

My cats are going nuts.. I keep stepping on dead spiders/daddy long legs and crane flies (not even going to attempt to get into that particular argument.... ) all over the place!

Some very impressive webs in the garden too!

 

[butterfly child]

I fucking knew it would be a mistake coming on this thread.

*feels ill*

 

[Structaural]

I'm an arachnophobe too, what a stupid phobia to have in Northern Europe
I wonder if it's a learned response from parents (my mum's phobic as well).

*shivers

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Interestingly there is evidence that some phobias are genetic rather than learned behaviour...sorry, can't do a link because what I had suspected was confirmed for me on Radio 4 (I know people where numismatiphobia has been in families but skipped generations).

 

[tarannau]

numismatiphobia

Eh? I'd like to pretend that I understood this one, but even Google can't turn up a link.