On the web: Make friends with spiders if you don't like flies and other insects

Maybe we should follow an old folk belief in Ireland that spiders should not be harmed, writes Donal Hickey

Spider web: As the weather gets colder in autumn, spiders tend to go indoors, mainly to breed

Since learning the story, in school long ago, of how a broken Scottish king, Robert The Bruce, was inspired by a spider to go back and win independence from England, I’ve admired the tenacity of this eight-legged creature.

Bruce was in a cave when he saw a spider trying to weave a web. It fell many times, but always climbed back again until it succeeded. The king identified with the spider in his own struggles.