I'm a bit short of time and photographs, so I'm afraid you'll have to put up with another photograph of the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) from No. 1 Line last week.
[5 April 2014, Olympus OM-D EM-1, 60mm f/2.8 macro, ISO 200, 1/200 at f/8; diffused flash]
All content © 2014 Pete McGregor
Brilliant. So, close up, a wasp looks even more like the stuff of nightmares!
ReplyDeleteOur lawn wasps seem to be benign creatures, happily pollinating away. They don't bother me, I don't bother them.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, http://onewordisenough.blogspot.com/2012/05/gloves.html
ReplyDeletethese.
Lisa, what can I say, other than I'm glad I'm not wasp-sized!
ReplyDeleteZhoen, part of the PR problem with wasps is that 'wasp' is used to refer to wasps like these as well as wasps in general, and many people don't understand the distinction. Most wasps aren't at all like these potentially aggressive yellow-jacket types. Most are solitary, not social, although the flower-visiting types can sometimes occur together in moderate or large numbers at a food source (the kind of situation your post describes), so in the unlikely event you get stung (and many wasps don't sting) you don't run the risk of all the others joining in.
That sphecid wasp in your post is gorgeous.