ID on a large black and White Spider

[DavidH]

Hello,

I was out with my daughter when a rather large spider caught our eye. by the side of a busy road are some thorn bushes and the spider in question was a monster. Not seen one this fat / large before so hoped someone could shed some light on it.

Apologies for the picture but as mentioned busy road and thorn bushes so stretching over to try and take a pic I did try and photo it top side but it legged it and dropped down into the undergrowth.

OK size wise it was around 7cm from rear leg tip to fore leg tip. About 4cm wide central.

I have a couple pics I can mail but they don't give too much away...and also a brief .mov

[GuyF]

Hi David, welcome to the site!
This is a female Wasp Spider - Argiope bruennichi, they're fairly recent arrivals to this country from continental Europe, and as you've seen they are very impressive spiders!
Guy

[DavidH]

Thank you.

I did some searching about and came across the Wasp Spider but wasn't sure as my one seemed a tad plumper than the photo's I saw guessing she must be ready to create some egg sacks. If I managed to get a photo of the back of her it may well of helped ;-)

Didn't realise just how big they get but yes very impressive looking spider.

Thanks again.

[Wild-Woman]

Definitely an impressive spider. The web is usually set at a level in long grass to catch grasshoppers- it's main food source, I have seen webs in other places too though.
Look out for the stabilimentum, which is a zig-zag silk thread running down part of the web.