Nature on our doorsteps: Scary maybe, but very useful!
By Rosaleen Dwyer
Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures
No matter how well we might clean our homes, we nonetheless share our living spaces with a range of other creatures like spiders, woodlice, clothes moths, silver fish, and earwigs.
However, we rarely see most of these, as they usually only come out at night when the lights are off.
Finding a giant House Spider in your shower is one way to wake up quickly in the morning!
The creature that causes the most dramatic reaction, is the giant House Spider.
Aptly named, this is indeed one of our largest and most impressive spider species.
Despite its size though, it is quite harmless to us.
In fact, it does a vital job devouring all those other creatures that live with us.
Giant House Spiders are at their most impressive at this time of the year because autumn is when they reach their full adult size.
We are also more likely to see them around now because the males are wandering around looking for females to mate with.
The speed at which House Spiders move can surprise us
Many people have an instinctive fear of spiders, reacting to their size, their long hairy legs, and the speed at which they move.
Maybe, with a little more understanding of the very useful work spiders do, instead of squashing them on sight, we should remember the old saying ‘If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive’.
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