Images by Rosie Hopkins

Ah got scunnert tryin’ tae spin
a web for denner,
the stane wis a’ slaisterie,
ah couldnae get a grip

From The Spider’s Legend of Robert the Bruce by Hugh McMillan via Scottish Poetry Library

Silk-thin silver strings woven cleverly into a lair,
An intricate entwining of divinest thread…
Like strands of magic worked upon the air,
The spider spins his enchanted web –
His home so eerily, spiraling spreads.

From A Spider’s Web by Jonathan Platt via Poem Hunter

Spiders make their webs from silk, a natural fibre made of protein. There are seven different silk glands, which produce silk with different characteristics and uses. Each type of silk gland is associated with a particular spinneret. No species has all seven, but orb-web weavers have five. Find out more here: Natural History Museum