Rare spider known as Britain’s 'mini tarantula' sighted at South Staffordshire beauty spot
A rare species of spider known as Britain’s 'mini tarantula' has been sighted at Kinver Edge which is managed by the National Trust.
A sighting of the Purseweb Spider has been made by a visitor to the South Staffordshire beauty spot – the first ever recording in the county - just in time for Halloween.
The secretive, tube-building spider – often called Britain’s 'mini tarantula' – has been found living in the heathland soils of Kingsford Heath, where a diverse landscape of rare, lowland heathland has been created to support nature and wildlife.
Kinver Edge visitor Matthew Rigby discovered the spider in an area which was restored to its former heathland landscape 20 years ago by Worcestershire County Council and which continues to be managed and cared for by the National Trust.
Andy Perry, the trust's nature conservation adviser, said: "This is a significant find for the region – the Purseweb spider is a nationally scarce species that doesn’t appear to have been recorded in Staffordshire or Worcestershire before. It also goes to show the important role that our visitors can play by recording and sharing their wildlife sightings with us.”
Heathland, one of the UK’s rarest habitats, is characterised by wide, open landscape, dominated by scattered trees and low-growing shrubs, such as gorse, heather and grasses, and sandy soil which provides an ideal habitat for invertebrates - including the rare Purseweb Spider.
National Trust countryside manager Ewan Chapman said: “The Purseweb Spider is a fascinating yet elusive species. It spends most of its life underground, hiding in a silk-lined burrow capped with a camouflaged “purse” of web. Unsuspecting insects walking over the surface are ambushed and dragged below – the stuff of Halloween nightmares.
“The discovery of the spider is regionally significant, as well as being a good indicator that our work to restore the heath on Kinver Edge is really paying off.
“We are now hoping to restore an area of conifer plantation, which was previously an area of open habitat, on the Worcestershire side of Kinver Edge in Blakeshall Common.
"This phase of work will help us stop the extinction of rare species on the site and hopefully attract wildlife back to the heathland habitats we're planning to restore.”
The National Trust's rangers at Kinver Edge care for and maintain the heathland by grazing livestock and cutting vegetation to control invasive plants. Without such interventions, the landscape quickly becomes over-taken by bracken, scrub or woodland, and the rare habitat, which supports lots of wildlife, is lost.
