Why are there more giant spiders in UK homes at the moment?

It's spider season - a time of the year where more people complain about an apparent influx of large house spiders in their homes.

But, there aren't actually more spiders during spider season, and we should be grateful for them, according to an expert.

Brian Eversham is an entomologist and the chief executive of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust.

He's been studying spiders for more than 40 years.

He told ITV News that spiders are often in homes throughout the year and that we only notice them in the autumn period because they have either grown bigger, or are males, looking to mate.

"This happens every year - during the spring time they are often quite small, and come late summer and adult, the spiders are adults," Mr Eversham said.

"The ones that people talk about the most are house spiders, and the males can have leg spans of up to about 12cm.

"They are fast moving, so they are the ones that people tend to notice. The females, quite sensibly, sit quietly in a corner of a room in their web, catching insects. People almost never notice that they've got female house spiders, tucked away in a shaded corner.

"The males go walking around, looking for the females, and that's when people tend to notice them. People think that there are suddenly a lot more, but it's just that they have started behaving differently."

"I think people should be grateful for them - for all the insects they kill," he added.

People on social media have been sharing their stories and thoughts on spiders.

One user joked: "UK Spiders are evolving differently man, they’ve come back from furlough on steroids," referencing the pandemic and current spider season.

Another said: "Serious question. why am I seeing so many spiders recently? Has there been a mass spider migration to the UK that I wasn’t aware of?"

According to Mr Eversham, we should not be afraid of these spiders, and instead should be grateful for them.

He said: "I've been looking at spiders for 40 odd years and I have still not been bitten by one.

"I probably handle more spiders every year than the average member of the public. They are not going to waste their venom, so they won't bite you unless they get cornered and they feel really threatened.

He added that there was a false widow spider in his bathroom who spent last summer "eating mosquitos" for him, keeping that room free of other insects.

The cellar spider, more commonly known as "daddy longlegs" are also often seen in homes during this time of year.

Mr Eversham said: "Although they look very delicate, they are serious predators of other spiders, and they'll quite often eat other spiders that are five times their body weight.

"If the big heavy male house spiders stumble across one of these cellar spiders by mistake, they will usually end up wrapped up in silk and being eaten."

He also said that the false widow spiders are given a hard time unnecessarily, given that they are not dangerous and do not bite often - and if they do, their bites are completely harmless.

Residents should get used to spiders, enjoy them, and think of them as "roommates" who keep homes tidy, according to Eversham, and if you really don't like them - use a glass and a sheet of paper to pop them outside of the window.