9 UK household spiders and webs for you to spot

Body length: up to 10mm. Nearly always indoors, mainly in south. Venomous; seldom bites humans.

Untidy sheet webs are slung in ceiling corners, constructed by large spiders that fall into baths and scuttle across ceilings and carpets at night.

Body length: 1.5mm (male); 2mm (female). Hides by day; hunts by night on walls or windowsills.

Webs around holes in walls, where the spider lurks. The vibration from a tuning fork held to the web will bring its owner racing out.

Body length: up to 10mm. Restricted to houses; lurks in corners and traps house spiders by flinging silk at them. Open webs between wall and ceiling built by this lanky building-dweller. Spider trembles and gyrates if disturbed. Carries eggs in jaws.

Often turns up in conservatories. An orb web woven vertically across twigs. Spider hides under a leaf, with one foot on a signal thread that detects vibrations from struggling prey.

Body length: up to 15mm. Only in the darkest corners; females often guard hanging egg sacs made of silk.

Orb web with a section free of spiral threads, traversed by a signal capture line leading to the spider’s lair. Often around doors and across window frames.

‘Barcode’-like patterning on abdomen. Can be found on the external walls of our houses.

Main image: © Sandra Doyle/The Art Agency