Wasp

GardenersHelper

GardenersHelper

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Nick
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Isn't he hairy! Could that be that it's old? Excellent shot by the way (y)
 
charlychuckchuck said:
Great set Nick:clap::clap::clap::clap: You are keeping us interested (y) Roll on summer.
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Thanks Charles. There turned out to be a bit of an ongoing story with this wasp (well, probably this one). That should turn up in a post I'm working on at the moment. Apart from that I have loads to work on in my still rather large backlog, but I've been diverted by other experiments (which the wasp is part of) so the backlog hasn't been declining at all in the past couple of weeks, or more perhaps.
 
davholla said:
I am very far from an expert but could it be a male? IFRC you can tell from the antenna - but I could be wrong.
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I didn't know that, but you are right. For example see this. It links to this page at BWARS, which in turn links to an illustration (on the second page of images - I can't seem to get a link direct to the illustration). That leaves me uncertain as to its sex. On balance, I'd go for female, but that depends on how curved is "curved".

This page amongst others also mentions that males have 13 segments on the antennae while females have 12. It is difficult to see how many segments there are from these images. But this post has more (and IMO rather better) images, with some clearer views of complete antennae, As mentioned in that post, I think it is probably the same wasp. Looking through those I think there are 12 segments on the antennae, so I think it is a female.
 
Love these shots and it is exactly what I want to be able to get one day soon.
The amount of details you have got in these shots are quite inspirational for me to try to get the same as you have shown.
There are a lot of things to learn to be as good as you are in these shots but it does give me something to aim for.
And for that I thank you, these are so good and well done to you.
 
Wasp said:
Love these shots and it is exactly what I want to be able to get one day soon.
The amount of details you have got in these shots are quite inspirational for me to try to get the same as you have shown.
There are a lot of things to learn to be as good as you are in these shots but it does give me something to aim for.
And for that I thank you, these are so good and well done to you.
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Thank you. As you like these (and given your username!) you might like to see these if you haven't already. The first of them was I think the same wasp, but she was moving around and I caught her in some more interesting poses.

Walking wasp
Wasps doing construction work
Wasps in flight
More from the August wasp's nest

 
That last one is sublime Nick, can always count on you to get great focus and show how its done :D
 
Only queen wasps overwinter in the U.K. The mild weather may have awakened her.
Workers and males are only around in the summer and die-off in the Autumn.

As with bumbles and honeybees, the hairs are there to (unknowingly) pollinate flowers.

The face-on shot is excellent.
 
Peter123 said:
Only queen wasps overwinter in the U.K. The mild weather may have awakened her.
Workers and males are only around in the summer and die-off in the Autumn.
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Thanks Peter. I did wonder if it was a queen. We have a big pile of stones that we have taken apart and slowly put back together again while mending a wall. There were a number of flies in there that we disturbed. I think the wasp was probably in there too. At one point she was wandering around and around the same little circuit, around and around the same handful of stones, looking for somewhere to stay I imagine. We had a nest elsewhere in the garden this year (and one the year before in a different place in the garden and another one in the loft).

I don't know if she would have survived this experience. She had been out on one of the stones for several days, but has now gone. Hopefully she found somewhere to stay nearby. Not sure how my wife will feel if we end up with a nest in the stones next year, with the pile being just outside the back door.

Peter123 said:
As with bumbles and honeybees, the hairs are there to (unknowingly) pollinate flowers.
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Presumably though that is redundant for the queen, as she doesn't go anywhere while the flowers are in bloom?

Peter123 said:
The face-on shot is excellent.
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Thanks Peter.
 
GardenersHelper said:
Presumably though that is redundant for the queen, as she doesn't go anywhere while the flowers are in bloom?
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The queen will only visit flowers for nectar & pollen in the spring when she makes a nest and lays eggs. Once the brood have hatched and are established
the female workers take over the foraging duties and she stays in the nest laying more eggs. Later in the year new queens and males are produced. Only mated queens
live over the winter.

I only know a little about wasps because I am a beekeeper and wasps near bee hives are our "enemy", as in July and following months they try and rob bee colonies.
 
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