BIG wasp

Early safari this morning, all finished before 7am. With the sun still hidden by the valley walls, the lighting was low, compounded by the heavily overcast sky. I usually use flash anyway, but as a fill-in rather than the main lighting, so problems had to be overcome.

I was not really expecting much at this cool hour, but rather hoping for something different left over from the night.

Out of 16 keepers, this was easily my favorite. At the time I could not decide if it was a bee or a wasp, the way it was hungrily devouring pollen. I suspected that it was a wasp from the abdomen separation, but it was not paying me any heed, which was quite a relief given its enormous size.

An honest estimate would be around 30mm in length, almost double the length of a UK wasp. A VERY scary creature, but I am well past that now and felt comfortable as I chased it around the vine.

I particularly liked this shot because I caught it in flight. Also, it is possible to see its two forked tongue like appendages sticking out from its powerful jaws, covered in pollen grains, possibly visible in large.

People don't think of wasps as pollinators, thinking that they feed on caterpillars and spiders. In fact they are sugar eaters, as all UK picnickers will already know and only collect the caterpillars and spiders to feed their grubs. As pollinators, good, but not as good as bees, who don't just collect pollen for themselves, but also for the grubs back at the hive and the supermarket shelves of course.

Dave