Collecting spiders

Arachnologists and entomologists observed unawares in their natural habitat (CC image by Gilles San Martin)

Collecting spiders... by which I inevitably mean, collecting and killing them. Of course, this element will totally rule out spiders as a collection for some people (who may be heartened by the fact they can still study live ones in the future and identify many of them). However I will quote from Michael J Roberts' book (the Collins Field Guide):

"If you were to spend a whole day collecting and killing spiders, this would be but a tiny fraction of the number killed by birds and other predators and you would have inadvertently run over or trampled many others on your way to the site. Killing spiders should not be undertaken lightly but it can, if done in a true spirit of enquiry, eventually benefit the spiders by increasing our understanding, and identifying sites where spiders are threatened. Bearing all this in mind, you should release readily identifiable species where captured, try to avoid taking too many specimens of the same species, avoid visiting the same site year after year, and avoid collecting in sites which are already well worked and contain known rarities. Finally, do not collect and kill spiders at all unless you are prepared to spend time identifying the preserved material."

The usual caveats apply - you should really have permission from the owner of the land (this would totally apply for nature reserves - and their owners will doubtless be interested in what you find), and you should be aware of protected species (sadly there are only two, the charismatic raft spider Dolomedes plantarius and the ladybird spider Eresus niger). Have a read of the Invertebrate Link's 'Code of Conduct'.

I imagine your main strategy of collecting will be to simply 'grub about' and get stuck in looking amongst dead wood, large stones and leaf-litter. But Jones-Walters' book 'Keys to the families of British Spiders' has a usefully long list of collection methods which includes:

The sweep net
The beating tray
Pitfall traps
Bark traps
Litter traps
Vegetation removal
Sieving
The separating funnel
Hand collecting
and The Pooter

- so that book's a very good place to start for ideas about how to find your specimens (although some methods apply more to the summer months). There's also useful information in the Collins Field Guide. I can help you with at least some of the equipment.

I'm glad that the Redback Spider lives in Australia. It's going to feel very full later. CC image by Calistemon.

Read on for advice about identification, and how you can preserve and present your specimens.