BBC News: Bumper year for arachnos!

I'm posting this here because obviously the BBC had to illustrate their report with a big photo and even a video clip right at the top featuring close-up glamour shots of our eight-legged foes - and I've replaced the S-word throughout with "arachno"!

More Arachnos Expected This Autumn
Conservationists say there could be more arachnos and daddy longlegs than usual this autumn because of favourable breeding conditions.

Researchers at insect charity, Buglife, said last year's wet autumn meant the larvae of daddy longlegs had plenty of decaying plant matter to eat.

Experts also said this year's temperate summer had been good for arachnos.

The charity says it will provide a good boost for declining insect populations and benefit other wildlife.

Matt Shardlow, chief executive of Buglife, said there had been a decline in the numbers of some species but 2009 could see the rate slowing down.

British biodiversity

Last year's damp autumn was good for daddy longlegs larvae or crane flies, which live just below the ground's surface.

Although the population is in general decline, Mr Shardlow said a "good number of eggs" had been laid and they should provide a boost to the number of daddy longlegs scuttling about in Britain's homes and gardens this autumn.

He said crane fly larvae helped keep the soil clean and the adults were food for birds and other animals.

Mr Shardlow said: "They are very important for biodiversity, without which we would not last very long.

"The last few years have been very bad for British biodiversity, with low numbers of moths, arachnos and crane flies."

He said the lack of dramatic weather this summer would help arachnos, which keep other bugs at bay.

"A house arachno can eat 20 flies a year. They control the populations of other insects, and themselves provide food for a host of other wildlife.

"If we do have a good year for arachnos in general, then it will just slow many years of alarming decline".

'Plentiful supply'

John Partridge, secretary of British Arachnological Society, said Buglife's predictions were good news for arachno populations and bug enthusiasts, but not for those who had a fear of the creepy crawlies.

"It is this time of year that people become more aware of them - it is the silly season for arachnos. The garden arachnos are getting fatter for laying eggs and bundles of tiny arachnos start hatching," he said.

"Those who don't like them, just leave them alone and they will leave you alone. But if you can, get up close and have a look at how beautifully coloured they are."

He said there are some 600 species of arachnos in Britain and it was important to remember the service they provided.

Ian Dawson, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said they were an important foodstuff.

"It's debatable whether some of our resident insect-eating birds, like the wren, would be able to survive the winter without a plentiful supply of arachnos in leaf litter and under shrubbery," he said.

10:57 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 11:57 UK
Source - warning contains BIG arachno pictures!! - BBC News Science & Environment

Is he taking the mickey?! "just leave them alone and they will leave you alone" - yeah, right, like the big bastard that ran right over my sofa the other day, and which we had to dispatch to webby-heaven with my Bayer spray (still loving that stuff btw).

The other thing about that statement is, it rather scarily implies that if you DON'T leave them alone.... EEEK!

I mean, yes it's sad we've messed up the environment, but give me a break - more of these little scuttlers we just don't need.

Why not deploy military bugbots with bits of bird food strapped to them, then we could completely eradicate ALL arachnos, and live on a safe sane planet?

Maybe those alien overlords who are just gagging to bring us peace, prosperity and cures for all known diseases are just hovering overhead, playing their weird alien music and stuff, but they're chronic arachnophobes, and won't land and deliver us all as long as there's a chance of seeing an eight-legged scuttler anywhere nearby?

Hadn't though of that one, had you, Mr Partridge!

Dearie me...

Whited-out stuff with the "S" word below:

BBC News predicts this is a bumper year for spiders, which they say is good and I say is insane! Full post and spider repellent and spiderkiller tips on this non-commercial blog by fellow arachnophobes, where the word SPIDER is whited out, there are no images of spiders either..