Crowned orb weaver

This spider is very common at this time of year and is often called prosaically the 'garden spider'.  They have a very wide range - from Europe to Japan and parts of the USA. It's Latin moniker is Araneus diadematus. It is also called cross-spider, kruisspin, Kreuzspinne or Epeire diademe

This is female 'spinning' its orb-shaped web. They are amazing to watch. They hang from the previous silk of the web with their front legs while the back ones pull the silk from their bodies and fix it to the radial silks . It's a bit like watching someone putting up scaffolding. Once finished they either hang upside down from the centre of the web or hide nearby with a signal line connected to the main orb. They bite their prey to paralyse it and then wrap it up. Apparently they can bite humans if cornered.

The female is bigger and courtship is hazardous for the male (apparently). The female makes a cocoon with 300-800 eggs in the autumn and dies. They hatch the next year in May.

When rain threatens or the web gets damaged the clever spider eats all the silk of the web except for the supportl lines and makes it anew. That's recycling for you.

See here