26 October 2026
While I was walking home through the field at the end of my road a few days ago, I came across a large spider walking briskly along the footpath. This turned out to be a first for me in that location – read on to see what it was.
This was a Four-spotted orbweb spider (Araneus quadratus), which is related to our common garden spiders (Araneus diadematus), with a similar chunky body shape and four prominent white spots. The one I found was orangey-yellow, but apparently the background colour can vary from deep green to brick red. The photo below doesn’t do her justice, as she was moving quite fast, and it’s difficult to see her stripey legs against the background.
Four-spotted orbweb spiders make their webs in long grass and other rank vegetation and large females can apparently weigh up to 2.5g, making them Britain’s heaviest (but not largest) spider. I couldn’t say how much this particular one weighed, although she did briefly head off up my arm when I was relocating her to a safer place.
This should whet your appetites for our next indoor meeting on 6 November, when Steven Williams from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History will be giving us a talk on Spiders.
Sue Morton
