Conservation programme releases thousands of rare fen raft spiders into a Suffolk nature reserve in a bid to boost their numbers
Photograph: Natural EnglandThe Guardian, Friday 22 October 2010
Thousands of endangered spiders have been released into a Suffolk nature reserve this week as part of a conservation scheme to stem their decline in the UK.
The ecologist Helen Smith, working with the government body Natural England, has hand-reared the 3,000 baby fen raft spiders in her own kitchen. She said: “They are all lined up in individual test tubes and I’ve had to personally feed them flies since the spring – which you can imagine is very, very time consuming for that number of spiders.”
The winning image: A Marvel of Ants by Bence Máté. Photograph: Bence Máté/Veolia Environnement wildlife photographer of the year 2010
Disabled people get ‘shockingly inadequate’ service from mobile phone providers, according to an Ofcom survey. Photograph: Stephen St. John/Getty Images/National Geographic RF 
