Eerie spiderweb photo goes viral

Spectacular spider webs near Hikurangi. Photo / John Stone

An eerie photo of millions of spiders fleeing flooded farmland in Hikurangi last week has gone viral, after it was posted by a popular science Facebook page.

The photograph, by Northern Advocate photographer John Stone, shows a blanket of spiderwebs draped over bushes and grass as the spiders took to higher ground to escape floodwater in Northland following last week's storm.

It is believed baby money spiders are the likely spinners of the webs.

Photos: Spiders spin wicked web

Image 1 of 14: Millions of spiders on the move across the Hikurangi Swamp on Jordan Valley road create a series of spectacular webs over road markers, road verges, trees and fences. PHOTO/JOHN STONE NAG 13Jun1

The striking image was included in a post by the popular Facebook page, I F***ing Love Science.

In just three hours the post had been shared by more than 11,000 people and gained 26,500 'likes'.

A link to the IFL Science website gives readers more information on the phenomenon, describing it as "embellishing [the] land with spectacular webs".

That post has more than 7400 Facebook shares, and almost 100 tweets, as well as other social media shares on sites such as Reddit and Pinterest, in the same short space of time.

The post links to the Northern Advocate site, as well as crediting the images and a video to the newspaper.

Watch: Video of silk spider web

IFL Science has gained millions of fans on Facebook by highlighting the weird and wonderful aspects of science.

It was created by Canadian-based UK scientist and blogger Elise Andrew "as a bit of fun" while she was a biology student in 2012.