German Wasp

A damp and drizzly dawn was followed by a cool, grey day. I had been planning to go up to Twyford Wood in Lincolnshire to check out an old record of green-winged orchid, but couldn't face tramping round in the cold and wet, so instead I had a pleasant day at home, entering data on the computer, doing some hoovering (sorely needed!) and giving Alex a bit of support with his assignments.

It was late afternoon before I thought about seeking a blip, and I made a quick tour of the garden to see what was about. There are lots more flowers now, but a tricky breeze made macro shots difficult. I remembered we'd switched the moth trap on last night, and had a quick look inside to see if anything remained. There were only four moths (in late May!)but there was a very torpid queen wasp.

I gently lifted her out and placed her on the back of our garden chair, where she sat for her portrait. Different species of wasps have different face markings. The two black dots show that this is a German Wasp Vespula germanica; the Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris has an anchor shaped mark with no separate dots. This low angle also shows her powerful jaws, which will be used to rasp off wood (probably from our garden furniture) which is then chewed up and processed to make the amazingly complicated nest. I know many people don't like wasps, but I'm always happy to have them in the garden, as they are excellent pest controllers!

Many of you will probably have noticed that Freespiral is currently selecting her ten Desert Island Discs. This got me pondering my selection and I've decided to follow in her footsteps, though I'm still unsure about my choices - how can you possibly choose just ten pieces of music?! My first track is Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens. This is perhaps the first piece of classical music that really resonated with me. I can still remember the shiver that went down my spine when I first heard it during a school music lesson at the age of eleven. We had an amazing music teacher, Miss Harvey, who was responsible for broadening my musical taste and encouraging me to play in the school orchestra (initially tenor recorder and later clarinet) and sing in the choir - the highlight being a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This piece of music later came back to haunt me, as the title music for Jonathan Creek, a series that was compulsory viewing when the boys were younger!