spider identification

[funstera]

hi, can you help me id a spider before my wife sells my house!!! on our local news they reported a story on a spider related to the black widow that could be found on the south coast of england. since then, we have found some wierd and wonderful spiders but this one i cannot id. i caught it to photograph it, just wanted to know if it was ok to release it again! ill add my pics to the gallery and all the other pics that have been found in my garden. thanks to you all!

[funstera]

sorry, pics are being added to unidentified. just resizing them first

[Venger]

Technically this should have gone in the General wildlife or the Insect forum (I know its not an insect - but we don't have an 'Arachnid' forum)

Your spider is an Araneus quadratus, a very common spider. They can vary in colour and patterning quite a lot (it's easier to see the patterning on darker spiders)

I'm sure a Mod will move it.