Garden Orb Weaver, (eirophora transmarina.)

Nocturnal. Female Garden Orb-weavers live about twelve months. Eggs are laid late summer-autumn and the female usually dies by early winter. The egg case is a fluffy silken cocoon attached to foliage. The spiderlings hatch and disperse during autumn to build their own tiny orb webs among vegetation. During spring the spiderlings develop more quickly and mature during summer. 

 

Argiope trifasciata is a species of spider native to North and South America, but now found around the world. It can be found in certain areas of Europe, namely the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and Madeira, The similar looking Argiope bruennichi is common in the Azores.

 

Mantises are an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 430 genera in 30 families. The largest family is the Mantidae. Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks.

 

 

I occasionally come across a few creepy crawlies while outside at night.  This is just a few
in which I took the opportunity to photograph.