Arachnids have been around for at least 420 million years and are one of the most diverse orders of living things. I've trained myself to ditch the anthropocentric view of what constitutes aesthetics when it comes to spiders and start from scratch. As most UK spiders are harmless, there's little risk in getting upclose and personal with them, with a hand lens for example, or by zooming in on them with your camera on the macro setting. They are actually extremely beautiful, especially when you consider that synergy of form and function I mentioned. Observing their predatory and self-defence tactics is a real treat, and what could be more aesthetically pleasing than the backlit dew-laced web of an orb-web spider on a sunny autumn morning?