Spider

Busy day today, stuff at work and afterwards a council meeting. I took a picture for the day and moved a piece of paper on my desk to load the pictures onto my computer when I found this individual hiding. Before it ran away I captured it and took a few pictures, then after releasing the container I took a few more before releasing it into the wild (i.e. outside).

I think it's a common or garden European house spider (Eratigena atrica or Tegenaria atrica) a large and fast moving spider that lives in houses and comes out at night to hunt when humans are not about. While it is powerful enough to bite you it's pretty timid and very keen to run away. If it did bite it shouldn't hurt much and you should be fine. I must confess I wasn't keen to experiment and it went for a walk in the garden...

It's not the best shot as the light wasn't so good, so don't look too close if you like spiders. If you don't like spiders then don't look either...!