Araneus Diadematus

The Garden Spider

Sunday 6th September 2015

What a nice change in the weather. Sat outside in the garden in lovely warm sunshine, having lunch. I happened to notice a large spider dangling from its web which was suspended between shrubs, just behind my wife. The web was not a beautiful typical web, it was quite tatty. I asked my wife to move, which she did without hesitation and with the sun lighting the spider, I took my shot. I don't know a lot about spiders, but it did look to have lovely markings on its back. I checked with the British Arachnological Society website to see if it was unusual, but it turned out to be a common 'Garden Spider', which is one of the largest British spiders. It spins a web during the night and catches prey during the day. Judging by the state of the web, it had been a busy morning.