Are spider bites on the rise in England?

Are spider bites on the rise in England?6 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGetty ImagesNoble false widow spiders - or steatoda nobilis - are on the rise in the UK, and prefer living in or near housesThe effects of spider bites are putting more people in hospital in England than 10 years ago, according to a freedom of information request by the Press Association.NHS figures show that there were 100 hospital admissions in 2025 linked to spider bites - up from 47 in 2015.Experts are blaming the trend on a sharp increase in the noble false widow spider, which has been described as "the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain".The charity Buglife says the spiders are not aggressive and there's no record of them causing serious illness or death, but they can cause pain and swelling in rare cases if they bite. Rise of the false widow spiderThe false widow species is said to originate from Madeira and the Canary Islands and was first seen in southern England in 1879.Clive Hambler, a lecturer in biological and human sciences at the University of Oxford, told PA: "I think if you were going back 50 years, then there would have been hardly any consequences from spider bites in Britain."The incidents of severe bites from spiders in Britain will have increased, as this species (false widows) became hugely more abundant in Britain, particularly in the south."NHS figures obtained by PA show there were 43 hospital admissions due to spider bites in 2021, increasing to 95 the following year. In both 2023 and 2024, there were 91 admissions.Of the 100 admissions in 2025, 73 of these were through the A&E department, compared with 38 of the 47 in 2015.A baby in Ireland was treated in the emergency department of his local hospital after a bite in 2022, while a Lincolnshire woman said she thought her finger would "explode" after a suspected spider bite in 2023.PA MediaDr Dugon notes the increasing population of noble false widow spi...