A SINISTER-looking creepy crawly is setting up home in Dorset.

Britain’s rarest spider, the ladybird spider, has been released onto Arne’s RSPB reserve in the Purbecks, as part of an initiative environmentalists hope will lead to the species prospering once again.

The ladybird spider – so called for its bright red body covered with black spots – was on the brink of extinction in the mid 1990s.

Experts believed just one colony of 56 spiders was left in the UK at that time.

Since then, conservationists have been working to help the spiders spread further afield. And they’ve come up with an innovative, albeit a low-tech method, of moving the spiders in.

Scientists will bury empty plastic mineral bottles, containing the spiders and their nests, in holes at the reserve near Poole Harbour.

RSPB Arne warden Toby Branston said: “The most striking thing about the ladybird spider is the unique colourful markings on the male which gives it its name, but it also leads a fascinating lifestyle.

“They spend most of their time underground where they create silk canopies which they decorate with remains of beetles, ants and other spiders they have eaten.”

Arne’s heathland site boasts 240 species of spider and hundreds of insects including the Roesel’s bush cricket, only discovered on the site last year.

Mr Branston said: “Burying plastic bottles in the heathland may seem a little strange to some of our visitors, but the experts have found this is the best way to translocate the spiders.

“This is an ideal habitat for them so we will be keeping a close eye on the new colony and carrying out regular surveys to see if they take to their new home.”