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A bizarre and oddly beautiful display of spider webs have been woven across a large field along a walking trail in Cape Breton.

"Well it's acres and acres; it's a sea of web," said Allen McCormick.

He was out for a walk on the Summit walking trails in Scotchtown when the field of webs stopped him in his tracks.

McCormick said a light dew last week made the webs stand out.

"It was kind of breathtaking, actually. I've never seen anything like it. You see lots of nature, but I've never seen a field covered in web before."

McCormick started snapping pictures.

No one he talked to had any idea why the field had filled with webs so quickly.

"Maybe Spiderman does live in Cape Breton," joked McCormick.
'Mass dispersal events'

Prof. Rob Bennett may have the answers though; he's an expert on spiders who works at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria.

Bennett examined McCormick's pictures. He said tiny, sheet-web weaver spiders known as Erigoninae linyphiidae most likely left the webs.

The little spiders are one or two millimetres long.

"For some reason, mostly unknown, these types of spiders are known to do these mass dispersal events. The spiders decide collectively that it's time to leave that area."