Other-worldly scenes on banks of river in Jerusalem - as spiders breed in their millions

These are the other-worldy scenes on the banks of a river near Jerusalem, caused by spiders reproducing in their millions.

Trees alongside the Soreq creek on the outskirts of the city have been completely covered in cobwebs.

This is because the creek itself is full of treated sewage, which causes mosquitoes to spawn in vast numbers, in turn allowing huge numbers of spiders to build webs to feed on them, which in turn reproduce in vast numbers.

"It's an exceptional case," said arachnophile Igor Armicach, a doctoral student at Hebrew University's Arachnid Collection.

He said millions of long-jawed spiders created the webbing that envelops the forest, a phenomenon rarely seen in the Middle East.

As winter approaches, colder temperatures will cause a drastic drop in the mosquito population that sustains the spiders.