Hi,
Was in my loft this evening and came across what i believe is a spiders egg sack(if thats what they called) next to it was a small brown spider of approx 20mm in overall length. Didn't wont to disturb it so didn't get too close with the camera but can anyone id the spider and if it is indeed a egg sack?
The spider is in the genus Steatoda. Some species in this genus may be known as rabbit hutch spiders or false widow spiders, and at least a couple of species can have a very painful bite (personal experience). The white fuzzy object in your image might be an egg sac (see http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian/theridiidae/Steatoda_ZZ072_F0760.jpg for an example. I'm not sure what the larger yellowish object might be...
Didn't think they had travelled so far north, last I heard was they was restricted mainly to southern England.
You're thinking of just one species, Steatoda nobilis. Other Steatoda are much more widely distributed. See http://www.uksafari.com/falsewidows5.htm
