Males 7-8mm, females 10-22mm. Large, brightly coloured and distinctively patterned spider. Juveniles and males may be less obvious than mature females. The large orb web is also distinctive with a vertical zig-zag stabilimentum. 

Grassland and scrub, usually where grasshoppers, the main prey, are frequent. Mowing destroys the egg sacs preventing over wintering so usually found on rough ground. 

Late summer-autumn. 

The large flask-shaped egg sac overwinters low in vegetation, the young hatch and emerge in early summer. 

Spreading northwards from its original sites in the south east. 

Presently uncommon, occasional accidental introductions

https://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal.php/p/Summary/s/Argiope+bruennichi