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Spiders, Narrowboats and Conkers!

We were sceptical at first but we have now conkered our narrowboat's spiders - no apologies for the pun

Our 35 year old daughter came to stay on the boat with us a few weeks ago for ten days and she's terrified of spiders. Like most boats we know of we have our fair share of spids! That was until we started our daughter's spider remedy. A conker in each corner of each section of the boat and one for luck on each window sill. By the end of her stay there were a marked reduction in the number of our eight legged friends around the house.

We have even placed the spider deterrent conkers on the bow and stern, and guess what? A lot fewer overnight webs. Apparently the conkers have to be fairly fresh to have their deterrent effect.

Now this old wives' tale is being researched by the Royal Society of Chemists (RSC). Not because we told them of our success; the RSC says it has been contacted by terrified members of the public desperate to find a way of keeping the eight legged creatures out of their homes.

Many want to know whether there is any truth in the old wives' tale that spiders have a morbid fear of horse-chestnuts the fruit of the Aesculus hippocastanum; a large deciduous tree, commonly known in the UK as Horse-chestnut or Conker tree, and that leaving conkers on window ledges and under sofas harmlessly stops the creatures in their tracks.

The RSC is offering a small reward to anyone who can back the claims with persuasive evidence that a spider's 'conkerphobia' really exists.

There are claims on the web, pardon the pun this time, that spiders don't like them at all and will steer clear - which to those suffering arachnophobia may be great news.

According to folklore, leaving conkers near doors or on window ledges prevents arachnids scuttling into homes.

The conker nuts, especially those that are young and fresh, are slightly poisonous, containing alkaloid saponins and glucosides. Although not dangerous to touch, they cause sickness when eaten. Some mammals, notably deer, are able to break down the toxins and eat them safely.

We have also found that many of the proprietary anti-spider sprays contain conker oil.

An infestation of the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella, whose larvae feed on horse chestnut leaves You may have noticed that the Conker trees in England have been looking a bit sad since the middle of the summer, this is due to an infestation of the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella, whose larvae feed on horse chestnut leaves. The moth was first seen and described in Macedonia in 1984, slowly working its destructive way across Europe reaching England in 2002. Apparently little if anything can be done to thwart this little blighter!