Arachnophobia! (Thank goodness for Spellcheck)

Popped into the allotment this afternoon just to pick up a lawn edger from the shed. When I opened the shed it was like something from 'Indiana Jones' with the spider silk spreading from side to side, not pretty webs, just a mass of it.
I thought I'd try the petrol mower while I was there and that's when I found the web spinner. You can't really get the size of it in the photo but the long silvery line that it is on is the tread part of the lawn edger. The body is huge compared to other spiders I've seen, the round bit is the body, not an old snail shell!
I think it must have been catching and eating rats.