Country diary: a moment’s sympathy for the fen raft spider

Carlton Marshes, Suffolk: These dedicated arachnids remind me of some Gaia-like goddess wrapped over the mantle of the Earth
Instead of the inflated hysteria triggered by the recent school “outbreaks” of false widow spiders, let’s spare a moment’s sympathy and take pleasure in one of their relatives, the fen raft spider. Dolomedes plantarius has just three tiny fragmented British territories: one in south Wales, another on the Pevensey Levels in East Sussex and a third, o