WHEN was the last time you saw tens of thousands of spiderlings, each trailing a gossamer thread, high in the sky or perhaps one or two landing on you unexpectedly?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This phenomenon was first reported by Charles Darwin in 1832 when, 100 kilometres off the coast of Argentina on board the HMS Beagle, hundreds of tiny red spiderlings fell onto the deck of the ship.
He had no ready answer as to how this event had occurred.
Flying spiderlings were once reasonably common around Bathurst in the March-May period, but are now a relatively unusual event.
The last mass movement of flying spiderlings that I know of in our neck of the woods was in Goulburn in 2015.
IN NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
I have observed spiderlings climb onto a high point, such as a twig, on mildly windy days, a gossamer thread suddenly appearing, and then the spiderling taking off.
Scientists thought that it was a combination of being a very small animal and the wind that made it possible for these spider flights.
Spiderlings have been located in the jet stream five kilometres above the earth's surface.
They are known to travel hundreds of kilometres from their launch site.
Mass migrations are referred to as an Angel Hair event - one may see thousands of glittering flashes in the sky, and a landscape covered in silky threads on the ground, or fence lines covered in white, as though in the middle of a dream.
Is it the wind that provides the energy for spiderlings to fly? In part, yes, but new research has demonstrated that the initial uplift is generated from electrical energy.
Most of us are familiar with rubbing a balloon so that very tiny pieces of paper can be attracted to its surface and stick to it.
Spiderlings have been located in the jet stream.
This is electrostatic energy and our world is full of it.
Every day, tens of thousands of lightning strikes occur. Consequently, the upper reaches of the atmosphere have a positive charge and the earth's surface a negative charge.
When silk leaves the body of a spider, it picks up a negative charge. Like charges repel, providing enough force to lift a spiderling into the air - so spiders have adapted to the power of electrostatic repulsion, and off they go.
After that they get a lot of help from the wind.
How marvellous is that?
