LARGE spiders are on the hunt for love in your homes across the county.

According to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, larger spiders wandering around houses and gardens are typical for this time of year.

For many species the autumn season is the time of year when they’re mature and also when the females are full of eggs, making some spiders much larger.

Wendy Carter, of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, said: "Indoors, they’ll mostly be house spiders and they’re on the hunt for love.

"House spiders may give you a shock when they suddenly appear in the corner of your eye as they race across your carpet but, as with most of our spiders in the UK, they’re basically harmless. 

"They may appear to be the arachnid equivalent of Usain Bolt but they can’t keep it up for long – they need to take breathers quite regularly. 

"And, once they’re old enough to hunt out a female, they don’t have much time left in the world. 

"It’s also the season for large spiders outside the house too – whether that be in gardens or the wider landscape.

"Some of the most obvious are the orb weavers – garden cross spiders in the garden, walnut orb weavers on fences and walls and four-spotted orb weavers in grasslands."

House spiders have chunky but relatively small brown bodies with black markings with long hairy legs.

You can tell males from females as males have smaller bodies, longer legs and larger palps to transfer sperm to female spiders.

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust encourages the public to submit their wildlife sightings across the county on its website.

If you wish to submit a sighting or have a species identified, you can visit https://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/wildlife-sightings.