IS it just us, or have there been more spiders than usual this summer?! According to reports, things are about to get worse...

Everywhere I look in our garden at the moment, there’s an eight-legged monster staring back at me.

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OK - so ‘monster’ is a little far-fetched. While spiders aren’t the most popular of creatures, they’re almost always harmless, of course, and do an important job.

But if recent reports are anything to go by, arachnophobes could be in for a stressful few weeks - because according to spider experts (arachnologists), there’s an army of a new breed of ‘giant’ spiders about to invade our homes to lay their eggs. Eek!

Cue millions of us lining up the old glass and cardboard combo - or quite frankly, doing away with it altogether, as we run screaming. But why are these spiders moving in?

According to arachnologist Chris Ayre, one of the biggest spiders in Europe, Eratigena atrica, is looking for a dry, warm place to mate and our homes will provide the perfect love nest, so to speak.

As the weather turns cooler and wetter this month, ‘giant house spiders’, which are relatives of the domestic house spider and can grow up to 12cm long, will descend.

“Spiders don’t specifically want to enter your home; in fact, they’d rather stay away as there’s less food and it’s too dry and clean,” says Simon Garrett, head of learning at Bristol Zoological Society, which runs spider phobia courses.

“Most species of spider stay outside and never come in houses. However, in autumn, mature male house spiders start to move around in search of mates.

“Although most remain outside, some will move into a house if there is an entry point for them. It is this need to mate that changes their behaviour, so it seems as though they suddenly come from nowhere at certain times.”