Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

Wasps are unappreciated beauties, so striking in their yellow and black. Common Wasps can be distinguished from similar species (like the German Wasp) by the black anchor shape on their faces. Away from their nest, they are unlikely to sting unless you flail around and scare them, as so many people do.

Now that I have a pond, all sorts of new insects visit including lots of new hover fly species and a number of Common Wasps. I love watching them land on the pebbles or plant leaves and then bob down to drink.

One appears, drinks then flies away. A minute or so later another (or perhaps the same one) comes down and does the same. This goes on for hours. I have seen at most 4 wasps drinking at once. I assume they are harvesting water to make the 'paper' for nest building.

Wasp

Wasp, originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

This wasp comes to my pond for a drink, then flies off for a few minutes before returning to do it all again. This carries on for as long as I've watched it, hours in some cases. I'm guessing it needs the water for nest building or something, as it can't be thirsty all day!

Parasitic Wasp ( Gasteruption jaculator) Male

Parasitic Wasp ( Gasteruption jaculator) Male, originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

Not your conventional yellow and black, ruin your picnic type wasp. However the tiny waist, eye shape and two pairs of wings are dead give-aways that this is indeed a wasp. It has an unpleasant but effective way of guaranteeing that its young will have food; it lays its eggs in another creature, usually a caterpillar, and when the eggs hatch they eat said caterpillar from the inside out. This is a male, as it has no ovipositor (egg laying tube) on the end of the abdomen.