Sophie is a spider. She’s a spinny winny spider. She loves using her little legs (and spiders have eight of them!) to spin delicate webs made of silk thread. Sophie is very creative. That means she is good at using her imagination to make new things. So Sophie weaves her webs into pretty patterns which look a bit like works of art! Sometimes, when Sophie is spinning her webs, it almost looks like she is dancing!

Sophie lives with her very large family in a very large hole. The very large hole is underneath the very large roof of a very large building.

In the early morning, the delicate webs that Sophie and her family weave appear everywhere. They glisten with pearls of dew. They sparkle as the sunlight reflects off of them.

Whilst Sophie and her family sit in their webs waiting for food, they often see ducks flying by. Spiders’ webs reflect a special kind of light (called ultraviolet light, or UV light for short) so that birds can see them clearly and stay away. That’s why the ducks never fly into them.

Over time, the ducks have become the spiders’ friends. The ducks quack loudly to each other. This is their way of communicating. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they are laughing or shouting at each other! But they are probably laughing because their big duck bills always seem to be smiling.

One morning, just after sunrise, Sophie sees her friend Doris fly over to sit on a big, fat branch not far from Sophie’s web. She gives Sophie a little wave with her wing.

“Hi Doris,” says Sophie. “What are you up to? No quack today?”

Doris shakes her head and gives what sounds like a very sad little quack.

“I’m afraid not Sophie,” she replies. “It doesn’t feel like there’s much to quack about.”

“Why? What’s happened?” asks Sophie. She’s sorry to hear Doris sounding so sad.

“Some of my duck friends have been having difficulties on top of the roof,” explains Doris, pointing with her wing to the building where Sophie’s family live. “It’s the solar panels. The roof is covered with them.”

“What are solar panels?” asks Sophie. She hasn’t heard of them before.

“They’re panels that collect light from the sun and turn it into power. They help create renewable energy. In the long-term that is better for our environment. The building over there is a solar power plant which makes electricity.”

“That all sounds really positive,” says Sophie. “I don’t really understand what the problem is.”

“Well, when the sun reflects off of the panels, the surface looks just like water,” Doris starts to explain. “Some ducks get confused and think it’s a pond or a lake and fly down onto it. The solar panels are boiling hot, so it can be really dangerous for them.”

As Sophie is so creative, she wonders if she can help in some way. She decides to have a think, whilst she dances across her web, spinning more silk threads. This gives her an idea.

“Doris, what about if we weave a web over the top of the solar panels?”

“How will that help?” asks Doris, looking a little confused.

“Well, our webs reflect UV light, which birds can see. You ducks always keep away from them. If there are webs over the solar panels, you would know to stay away from those as well.”

Doris quacks with delight. She thinks Sophie’s simple idea is a brilliant one.

“Yes,” she quacks, flapping her wings furiously with excitement. “I think that will work!”

“Great, let me go and get my family and we can get started,” says Sophie, scampering off into her hole home to share her idea.

In a few minutes, Sophie returns with lots of her spider family. They crawl up onto the roof, being careful not to touch the solar panels themselves because they are really, really hot! Instead, they begin to spin their silk thread just above the panels. WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH…They scuttle back and forth, this way and that, quickly weaving their silk threads into a beautiful design.

Once Sophie and her family have finished, the whole roof is covered by a huge web. It sparkles with dewdrops in the sunlight. It almost looks as though it is decorated with diamonds!

Doris’ friends flying overhead look down and point with their wings. They can see the web from afar and know not to land on it.

“Sophie, it’s so beautiful!” Doris exclaims.

“Thanks,” replies Sophie. “I’m really glad you like it. The most important thing is that it will help stop your friends landing on the solar panels.”

Doris lets out a loud QUAAAAAACK! “I completely agree!” she smiles.

Sophie is so happy. Her creativity and imagination is helping to keep her friends away from something that could cause them harm.

“Sophie, do you think you could teach me how to spin a silk thread?” asks Doris.

Sophie looks at Doris’ thick webbed feet and her fluffy, feathered wings. Then she looks down at her own spindly legs.

“I think there’s about as much chance of that as you teaching me how to fly,” she giggles. “Perhaps we should stick to what we do best or everyone will think we’re both quackers!”

Questions for discussion

Where do solar panels get the energy from that they need to produce power?

What are the advantages of using the renewable energy created by solar panels?

Can you think of any other things that offer us benefits but which humans or animals still need to be very careful around?