ONE of the UK's rarest spiders, that just happens to look like Father Christmas, has been resurrected in Purbeck.

The ladybird spider, which with its red, black and white markings resembles Santa, was on the brink of extinction in the mid 1980s.

In 2011 it was released onto Arne’s RSPB, as part of an initiative environmentalists hoped would lead to the species prospering once again.

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

Since then, the hairy eight-legged spider - not much larger than a fingertip - has gone from strength-to-strength.

RSPB ecology manager Toby Branston said: "It is great to see this incredible little spider doing well in its new home. The hard work has started to pay off.

"Searches this year have found five new webs away from the release sites as well as others in their original 'bottle-homes', a great sign that the spiders are feeling settled here at Arne."

During the original translocation, scientists used empty plastic mineral water bottles for the spiders to make their nests in.

These bottles were filled with heather and moss and buried in holes in the ground so the spiders could colonise the nearby area.

Arne’s heathland site boasts more than 250 species of spider and hundreds of insects including the threatened silver studded blue butterfly and the Purbeck mason wasp.

An RSPB spokesman said: "For many years scientists believed that ladybird spiders were extinct in the UK but a small colony was discovered clinging on at one site in the 1980s.

"It is a heathland specialist and has suffered over the years from the destruction of much of our wildlife rich heathland habitat.

"More than 90 per cent of our lowland heathland has been lost to agriculture, commercial forestry and development, putting major pressure on the species that rely on it."