Engineers foil poisonous spiders’ invasion plans at Yeovilton

More jungle than Jungly.

This is a western black widow spider… typically found in North America… not in deepest Somerset… and certainly not in a Royal Navy helicopter.

Engineers from 845 Naval Air Squadron got an unwelcome surprise as they prepared to work on one of their Sea Kings.

PO Alex ‘Scotty’ Scott and Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Daryl ‘Daz’ Prichard were about to pick up some tools when, luckily for them, they spotted a poisonous black widow spider.

The spider crawled aboard the helicopter when some of the squadron was training at El Centro in California – where Prince Harry is training as an Apache gunship pilot – on a recent exercise.

When the training was done the helicopter was sterilised – know as ‘bug bombing’ – precisely to avoid such creepy crawlies being introduced to Britain (the same process was used when 845 and her sister Commando Helicopter Force squadron 846, collectively known as the Junglies, returned from Afghanistan for good after four years last autumn).

Alex explained:

"I approached the spider, which was about 22 mm in diameter, in a typical curious-boy manner, as you do.

"As I moved in to examine it, it became startled and agitated and began to scurry around – revealing the bright red hour-glass patch on its belly.

“The aircraft I was working on had recently returned from a detachment to El Centro, California, so alarm bells started to ring.

"It didn’t take long to recognise it as a female black widow – we had previously received a desert safety brief in California."

Thinking quickly, the two engineers managed to capture the creature –to preserve it for official species identification.

Alex continues:

“After realising what we were dealing with, we used an element of skill and considerable daring to capture our stowaway rather than squashing it.

"Having secured the offending beast in a jar we informed the relevant agencies so professionals could verify exactly what type of spider it was.

“We were told the female black widow’s bite is particularly harmful to humans because of its unusually large venom glands.”

Indeed it does – the venom of a latrodectus hesperus, to give it its correct scientific name, is 15 times more potent than a rattlesnake and can cause severe pain to humans if it bites… which it only does if disturbed.

The discovery led to the hangar being fully fumigated, after which a male black widow and an egg pouch were found. The quick thinking of CPO Prichard and PO Scott – and the subsequent actions of Yeovilton’s safety team – prevented a potential infestation of the unwanted spiders.