Tiny balls of baby spiders like this one make the news every year, with headlines like ‘Millions of “exploding” yellow baby spiders invade Britain’ (Mirror, June 2015).
Of course, the spiders aren’t actually invading Britain – these are the common Garden spiders (Araneus diadematus) that can be found stringing their webs from every available bush and shrub. And, of course, they don’t actually explode – they normally huddle into a tight ball but, if you get too close, they rapidly run out in all directions, to try to protect themselves. As soon as they feel safe, they huddle back together again. They’re actually very cute!
