Hello,
I came across this spider in the Peak district between Hollins Cross and Edale on the side of the footpath SK1332684636.
The web and spider were sitting on top of some knee height scrub vegetation (Gorse).
I was a little taken aback by it's size and it looked very distincitve to me, not like anything I have seen before in the UK.
The picture doesn't do it justice (I only had an old mobile phone to photo it with), especially the colours, I would describe it as grey with a darker grey-brown pattern on it's abdomen which was noticably large and almond shaped. It's legs looked thick and muscular. Body length (legs excluded) it is hard to feel accurate, but at a guess 1.5-2.5cm, it was the most intidmating looking spider I've seen in the UK.
I've looked on a couple of UK spider ID sites and have found nothing that really looks like it.
Does anyone know what it is?
Thanks.