Cobwebs, or filaments left by spiders, are usually just one of the most common nuisances present in untidy houses.
This is why residents near the Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa, New Zealand, were left wondering if Peter Parker was around, as they were greeted with thousands of cobwebs smothering almost an entire soccer field.
The amazing sight, which was documented by a local, Tracey Maris, was believed to be the work of a platoon of tiny spiders.
“The web started at the top of the mound which is up above the soccer fields,” Maris described the sight to SunLive. “It went almost right down to Papamoa College. I read an article about the same kind of thing a few years back where a whole heap of spiders created the same effect to escape flooding.”
Aside from just marveling at the view, Maris and her son couldn’t help but venture toward what appeared to be a giant spider’s lair.
“We thought surely there are no spiders inside that,” she shared. “We walked further up and our feet started getting stuck in the cobwebs, and then we noticed little black things on top.”
Meanwhile, a museum curator and “spider expert” Cor Vink told the New Zealand Herald that the silky phenomenon was completely natural.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is a pasture is full of spiders munching away on things, and what they tend to do is move around by releasing a drag line of silk to help them in case they fall,” he explained.
“The wind picks them up, releases them along the way and they land and that piece of silk lands with them. It’s like spider parachutes.” Khristian Ibarrola /ra