Web over Waikato: Spider expert explains massive spiderweb blankets seen in Huntly

Huntly was covered in what appeared to be spider webs this morning.

A woman driving through a Waikato town thought she might have experienced tunnel vision when the countryside appeared to be covered in spider webs.

The woman, who asked not to be named, was in Huntly this morning when she was captivated by the spider webs covering the ground.

“I was amazed at how many there were, but also captivated by the beauty, as it’s not a sight you see very often.

“So I took these insane photos of the main drag coming into Huntly, blanketed in spiderwebs.

The ground in Huntly appeared to have been covered in spider webs.

“Thought they’d be interesting because people in the city don’t get them.”

Spider ballooning season typically occurs in New Zealand from March to May, with some activity stretching into early winter.

This phenomenon involves millions of young spiderlings releasing silk threads to catch wind currents, often covering fields, fences, and trees in blankets of white, gossamer silk.

Canterbury University spider expert Dr Fiona Cross - known as Dr Spider - said the recent wet weather was likely behind last night’s spider ballooning.

Spider expert Dr Fiona Cross of Canterbury University.

She said thousands of adolescent spiders would have contributed to dispersing that much silk across vast areas.

“The pictures are just so beautiful,” Cross said.

“Seeing all that beautiful silk and you see all the glistening; it is absolutely stunning.

“Thousands of spiders would have been involved.

“These are young spiders dispersing the silk from their abdomens before they look for a new place to live.”

Thousands of spiders dispersed their silk, covering the grounds in Huntly.

Cross said spider ballooning was seasonal.

“When the air currents and the electrical currents are just right, the spiders release their silk soaring into the air, and that can be dispersed a long way,” she said.

“One Australian spider is said to be able to balloon its silk across the Tasman.”

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