Nicknamed Tar-Angela by her colleagues, Angela knows almost all there is to know about these eight-legged creatures and in her spare time she is the Secretary of the British Tarantula Society.

Most of the spiders reported to Angela turned out to be common garden spiders, which are often bigger at this time of the year due to pregnancy. With the milder winter weather we have been experiencing, it is likely that simply more gardeners were outside to observe them.

Only one of the spiders sighted was identified by Angela as the more unusual false widow. False widows originate from mainland Europe and have only colonised in Britain relatively recently. Despite sharing similar characteristics with the infamous black widow, they are in fact harmless with a bite no worse than the sting of a bee.

Angela said, "The false widow has been established in the UK since the 1800s but due to climate changes, has become more prevalent in the South of England. Often confused with its more infamous cousin, the black widow, it does not have the telltale red hourglass marking underneath and is far less dangerous."