I'd be lying if I'd say that spiders are my favourite insects. Wait, hang on, they are not insects, my bad, they are Arachnids, and I'll come back to that a bit later. In fact, spiders are on of those creepy crawlies that make me jump, scream and run away for most of the time when they approach me in an unexpected way.
At this time of the year our garden is full of them. Truth be told, they are not as exposed as one might think and when they do migrate across the garden, they do that in the most stealth of ways possible. But, if you're my 11 year old daughter, then no spider can hide well enough for her not to find. She doesn't touch them or disturb them in any way but only with observation, so no worries there.
Harvestman spider - there are around 25 species of common harvestman living in the UK. It's distinguished small body and long legs make it a common sight in our gardens as well as in cellars or houses in general.
AM I AFFRAID OF SPIDERS? NOT EXACTLY OR NOT ENTIRELY! DO I SUFFER FROM ARACHNOPHOBIA? SURE, TO ONE EXTENT! AND DO THEY CREEP ME OUT? YES, YES THEY DO!
Just thinking and writing about spiders is giving me shivers. From a very young age I've not been coping well when it comes to spiders. There's something about them, something that is giving me this almost a phobia event which I can't describe. It could be that they always appear where they shouldn't or maybe it's down to their movement and hairy legs...I just can't decide. All this could be as a result of me being 7 years old, having a spider descending from the ceiling right on to my face when I was in my bed, just maybe. But if I manage to leave all this behind and look at spiders from a different perspective (not easy to do, believe me), then they are nothing short of being one of the most fascinating Arachnids.
SPIDERS MOVE CONSTANTLY, BUT SOME WILL LUCKILY STAY STILL FOR LONG ENOUGH FOR AND POSE FOR ME TO TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH WHILST SHAKING AND THINKING HOW IT'LL JUMP ON ME ANY SECOND NOW.
I took as many photographs as I could from the spiders that were as friendly as possible. After taking all the photos, I've realised that somwhow I'll have to find a will and strength to find out more details about each of them. That sadly didn't go as planned and have been stuck sitting behind my computer for an hour now. Every time I check and see a spider on my screen is fine, it really is, but, as soon as I dig a bit more about it and a high resolution close-up photo gets shown, I press the exit button. You know them traditional house spiders with tiny body and extra long legs, or otherwise called daddy long legs, I'm okay with them and can even hold one. But as soon as that turns in to an different-colour-odd-body-hairy-legs type of a spider...that's jump, run and end up flapping my arms around whilst screaming "it's on me"!
WHY AM I AFFRAID? AND IS IT FEAR OR IS IT JUST AN EXAGGERATED FORM OF HUMAN'S INSTINCT TO SURVIVE SOMETHING THAT IS ACTUALLY SCARED OF US MORE THEN WE ARE OF IT?!
I don't know what possesses my mind to behave erratically around these certain creepy crawlies and not if I see a scorpion on the photo, up close or in real life. Why I mentioned a scorpion? Well, they are close relatives of spiders and are indeed quite similar. Both have many legs (way too many), both can be hairy or have many eyes...list goes on for a while.
They say that people who suffer from Arachnophobia are usually feeling quite uneasy in just an area where there are cobwebs or if an area looks like it'll be full of spiders. That takes me back to the point when I was a child growing up on the countryside, surrounded by farms, old houses and dark cellars. Funny enough, I was never bothered by any of that and would only a 'possible contact or walking into a cobweb that would trigger my unusual form of feeling anxious. In many, the fear of spiders elicits a “disgust response”! I get that feeling from some species. People with severe arachnophobia have such an extreme aversion to spiders that they may be afraid to go into their cellar or garage because a spider may be present. If they encounter a spider, they may actually leave the house rather than deal with it. I used to share a house with a person not being capable to control that kind of fear, and that was hard on them as it was on us housemates.
It has become nothing more then a learned response on most occasions, unless a mean looking spiders are included in the wider picture. Take this as an example; my wife being from Philippines and us visiting it many times has never brought up the idea to worry and be scared whilst there, despite their spiders being much bigger and faster then the ones living in the UK.
Aracnophobia can be experienced in many different stages and involves many symptoms. The typical symptoms are:
- Dizziness
- Feelings of losing control
- Hot or cold flashes
- Feeling of choking
- Trembling and sweating
- Rapid heart rate
- Chest pain
- Nausea
- and the one that I get the most - feeling of something crawling on me even though there's nothing there!
OVERCOME YOUR FEAR IF YOU CAN, AND DON'T BEAT YOURSELF IF YOU CAN'T AS IT ISN'T AS EASY AS PEOPLE MIGHT THINK IT IS!
Anyone who has a degree in dealing with people who have some form of phobia will tell you that there are many many ways to overcome your fear. They'll tell you to read and get familiar in detail about your fear, or look at the photos if that helps,...,even touch, perform or get yourself in the position of what causes your fear in the first place. Sure, on paper it sounds about right, but let me inform you that in reality it's anything but as easy as that! People with severe phobia of spiders do get professional help as otherwise their life can be anything but normal as presence of creepy crawlies is just unavoidable!
I've managed to reduce my fear of spiders substantially over the past decade or so and as you can see I've even managed to get a few photos to share with you. There's no denial that after every photo I took, I've had to take a few steps back from the spider to recover from my moderate fear of it. I'd say that this is one and only time so far that my camera's setting was switched to burst mode, because taking individual photos for minutes on end would prove to be way too hard.
I've not come across a spider carying its offspring before, and this for me was the first time this has happened.
Spiders are fascinating and scary, interesting and different, odd and very very needed! Why needed? Well, the amount of insects that they get rid of for us and to be able to live a life more free from constant swarms of bugs is just unimaginable! I'm scared of spiders to some extent, but have never purposely squashed one! Fear of something shouldn't prevail over getting rid of what is being feard! People are affraid of many things and we should always look to overcome our fear before even thinking of getting rid of it in the most awful way! Let spiders be no matter how scared you are as they are more scared of you and look...it has already ran away!
PLEASE, I HOPE THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THAT I'VE STRUGGLED TOO MUCH WITH GETTING THE RELEVANT INFORMATION ON OTHER THREE SPIDERS IN THE PHOTOS. DADDY LONG LEGS IS THE ONLY ONE I WAS ABLE TO COPE WITH LOOKING AT IT FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME.
All the photos as well as thoughts in this article are mine.
Thanks for stopping by and take care!