Wasp Spider – Argiope bruennichi

A member of our Wild Fen Edge Whatsapp group alerted members to the presence of Wasp Spiders in one of our local nature reserves, specifically on the edge of the small woodland adjacent to Wort’s Meadow in Landbeach, Cambs. It’s 8 years since I last saw a Wasp Spider, Argiope bruennichi, and that was at RSPB Lakenheath. So, I thought I’d take a look. View of the upperside of the Wasp Spider’s abdomen showing its waspish pattern; photo also shows the web’s zig-zag stabilimentum The WFE member had spotted two of the females in their webs in front of a couple of dried out ponds on the nature reserve and told me roughly where to look. It took me a few moments to find the first, then a second, a third, and a fourth. The first three were presenting with their undersides visible, but the fourth was front to back. So I was able to got some half-decent snapshots of both sides of this startling arachnid, showing the black, white, and yellow stripey markings on the spider’s abdomen that give it…