THE outdoor furniture is so covered in cobwebs it resembles a prop from an Indiana Jones film. Meanwhile, each time you open the car door you plunge your fingers into a web that spans the length of the handle.

Welcome to summer in wet Melbourne. According to Mark Elgar, from the University of Melbourne's department of zoology, we're in for a bumper spider season.

White-tailed spider Credit:Museum Victoria

''We've had a mild and wet winter and spring and I think it's going to be packed full of spiders and insects,'' Professor Elgar said.

The humid conditions suit spiders as they produce an abundance of insects for the spiders to eat. A prolific food supply inevitably leads to prolific breeding.