One of seven British Araneus species, Araneus diadematus is the most common and a very numerous spider in most gardens, including our own. Perhaps second only to the Spotted Wolf Spider in terms of shear abundance within the Garden.
The image here is of the female, showing the very distinct white cross.
The male is smaller with much less distinct markings…
Often it is the hoards of juvenile Garden Spiders we see, shown in the video below upon ivy, a plant where we often record them…
Garden Spiders belong to the Family referred to as Orbweb spiders, and spin impressive webs between fences, shrubs and just about anything else upright in the garden, normally exactly where you want to walk. Large insects such as bumblebees often appear to simply bounce off the webs and escape. However bottleflies and just about anything smaller often get trapped as shown below…
Often taking prey larger than themselves…
DC: 13.10.2022
Wildlife Garden 