Country diary: A daddy-longlegs and its eggs have a narrow escape

Crook, County Durham: Pholcus has a reputation for preying on other spiders, by entering their webs and vibrating, imitating struggles of a snared fly

When I leaned the steps against the conservatory wall and climbed, my brush loaded with paint, it could so easily have ended in tragedy.

A daddy-longlegs spider, Pholcus phalangioides, hanging upside down in her flimsy web, came within an inch of being submerged in a tide of Apricot Blush emulsion.