Orb Weaver. what species?

i just found this orb weaver in my conservatory heading for the fly zapper and saved it. it looks gorgeous! im gonna keep it.
i remember seeing one of these in spain so im wondering what its doing here in the UK? the closest think i can find to what it is is Argiope bruennichi. can it be the same species as what i saw in spain? if so how powerful is its venom? will it have much of an effect on anything larger than a fly?
here it (she, i think as the male is apparently a lot smaller) is:



EDIT:
found this: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23410883-details/Exotic+spider+with+a+nasty+bite+swarms+across+England+-+and+its+all+thanks+to+global+warming/article.do

ooooh will have to watch out for those XD

Looks like you've already got it IDd. Argiope is a pretty cool genus.

That article seemed a bit over-done, though.

A stupid article wrote:

But while they can bite, the creatures are not poisonous.

Well THERE'S a "duh" statement of the year.

very nice spider.. there are thousands and thousands of there little guys on the channel islands. Jersey is overrun with them.

A stupid article wrote:

But while they can bite, the creatures are not poisonous.

Well THERE'S a "duh" statement of the year.[/quote]

haha no doubt!

gorgeous spider, nice to know they are around, i can't wait to find one...

its about twice that size now after taking on a locust at least twice its size lol! i'm hoping its gravid, most of the spiders i find are.

that'd be amazing! good luck