When I was little I would jump and scream if I saw a spider. They scuttle, they crawl, they shake their webs to make it hard to see them.

Then I did biology and found out about them. They have little boxing glove shaped things on their front legs called pedipalps, they have eight eyes, they catch and eat flies and other pests. They come in all shapes and sizes, but British ones are relatively safe and garden spiders are quite interesting to look at with patterns on their backs.

It got to a point where my manager, who was arachnophobic, would ask me to catch spiders if they were in her office! I also like snakes after a wildlife talk at school where they bought some in for pupils to see. I was at a festival today and got to hold a snake. Once you get over the initial fears you can do it.

Spiders and snakes are part of nature, kill off insects and spiders die, if spiders are gone birds have less to eat, and what do snakes eat? Birds and small mammals, soon we would be left with nothing. We need to care….