The old military testing site in Suffolk was crawling with thousands and thousands of spiders, says the British Arachnological Society. But there was more…
Spider experts just surveyed an abandoned military site in England – and they found something astonishing
In Suffolk, abandoned military buildings lay scattered along the largest shingle spit in Europe. They are foreboding to look at; severe and brutal against the backdrop of the North Sea. This place is not, at first glance, somewhere you might presume to be a wildlife haven.
However, a recent survey conducted by the British Arachnological Society has found that it is positively crawling with spiders.
Orford Ness: a spider haven
Orford Ness was once a military testing site, but it was sold to the National Trust in the 1990s and has since been managed as a nature reserve. It is of international importance, largely because of its rare and fragile vegetated shingle habitat.
Recently, members of the British Arachnological Society conducted surveys to find out how many species of spider live on the site. They discovered a total of 55 species. Excitingly, five of these species are rare in the UK, and a further seven are considered nationally scarce.
- British spider guide – and why there are so many around
- Meet Britain’s biggest spiders – their size may surprise you
- The purseweb spider: Britain’s tarantula
One of the rare species, Neon pictus, has never been seen in Suffolk before. It is a tiny spider – only 3mm in length – and is a type of jumping spider. Finding this species clinging to the underside of a rock was a highlight for Richard Gallon, one of the surveyors. “We were delighted to find this species at Orford,” Richard says. “It extends the known UK range of this nationally rare species into East Anglia.”
Another rare species, Gnaphosa lugubris, seems to be thriving in the nature reserve. It is usually found in very small numbers, but at Orford Ness experts believe it may be present in its thousands.
Why so many spiders?
“It’s great to see that the careful management of the site’s habitats support so many of these often maligned but important species,” Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature Conservation & Restoration Ecology at the National Trust, says.
Often, shingle habitat is disturbed by human leisure activities. Matt Wilson, the National Trust’s Countryside Manager for the Suffolk and Essex Coast, says “we believe the remote nature of Orford Ness, where disturbance is limited, may be helping these spider species to succeed.”
Orford Ness is a real success story for UK spiders, and goes to show that careful habitat management, and a lack of human disturbance, can lead to booming biodiversity for our eight-legged neighbours.
Main image: Orford Ness, Suffolk, is home to a number of rare or scarce spider species/National Trust Images Justin Minns
More wildlife stories from around the world
- This odd-looking bird from the Mediterranean just bred in Britain for the first time ever
- Huge pod of dolphins stuns English fisherman
- Why are scientists breeding leeches in London?
- 10 mega prehistoric beasts that would have terrified early Brits