Rare ‘mini-tarantula’ spotted on golf course

By Isobel Williams

A rare “mini-tarantula” has been spotted — on a British golf course.

The unusual arachnid was spotted last week on Royal St. George’s Golf Course in Sandwich, Kent, England, by a group on a nature walk.

Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory’s education officer Faye Kavvadias-Large was leading the group of teens when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

After taking a photo of the small spider and bringing it back to the office, she managed to identify it as a purseweb spider.

This species belongs to the same ancient spider group as tarantulas, and is the only British species from this group.

It is believed to be the first-ever recorded sighting of the species at the site, which is ranked the country’s best golf course by National Club Golfer magazine.

Faye, 43, from Folkestone, Kent, said: “I happened to spot the spider, and because it looked quite unusual with the fangs at the front, it just caught my eye.

“I went back to the field center with a photo to identify it and found out it was a first in the bay. So that was quite a cool spot by me.

“It was very much a chance sighting but a very exciting sighting nonetheless. It was a bit of luck.”

The spider was very small, measuring in at around the same size as a 20p coin.

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Despite its fearsome-sounding name, it’s an elusive creature that spends most of its life hidden underground in a silk-lined burrow.

Purseweb spiders are nationally scarce and Amber Listed, making sightings particularly noteworthy.

Males are more likely to be seen in late summer and autumn when they leave their burrows in search of females.

Faye added: “Arachnid specialists will spend a lot of their careers trying to find these spiders and don’t have any success because they like to live underground.

“I have never seen a spider like that before and a lot of people will spend their lifetime never seeing one of these spiders.”

Since posting the sighting on social media, Faye says she has received a lot of cruel comments from people who find the little spider scary.

But she stresses that spiders are an important part of our ecosystem and they should be treated with respect.

She added: “I think there was a bit of hesitation from the teens because it was a spider. I think we have been conditioned to be so frightened of these creatures.

“I try to teach children a lot of compassion for our wildlife, particularly insects and arachnids, because they get a lot of bad press.

“I think people can jump to being very negative about them and perhaps not giving them the compassion and interest that they deserve.

“Spiders have a huge part to play in our ecosystems. If we were suddenly to lose a whole group then what would happen?”