Wasps

During the sunny days, over the last week or so, I have noticed a lot of wasp activity around the oak (species) tree that over hangs our garden. The wasps are mainly high up, buzzing around the branches, occasionally flying off.

Today I managed to get a relatively close up picture of a couple of the wasps. I think they might be the German Wasp, because of the hairy head and thorax. The yellow marking on the face in this species also bears three black dots, but none of the pictures were clear enough to show this. These wasps make a nest made from chewed up plant fibers and produce a chemical which repels ants, which the secret at the base to prevent ants invading the nest.

What was particularly strange is that a few metres away, an apple tree overhangs our garden. On the shed roof is a pile of windfall apples and yet the wasps showed no interest in them.

Like the common wasp, these worker wasps collect insects and caterpilars to feed their young (earlier in the year) and so these an benificial insects