Ruby-tail wasp

This wasp, Hedychrum niemelai,  certainly lives up to it's common name and is resplendent in it's glittering coat of traffic-light hues. It's a rare species of southern Britain, inhabiting open sandy localities: lowland heaths, coastal dunes, cliffs with sandy deposits, and other disturbed locations, for example sandpits, footpaths and railway cuttings. Adults fly in bright sunshine around nesting sites of the hosts and feed at the nectaries and extra-floral nectaries of flowering plants.


It's also known as a cuckoo wasp, as many of the 40 British species are cleptoparasites feeding on the food stored in the host’s nest, while some are parasites feeding on larvae of a variety of solitary wasps. They are heavily armoured for protection and, additionally, the majority can adopt a rolled-up defensive posture when threatened.


I seemed to spend much of the day acting as a taxi, but hopefully that'll diminish soon as Chris passed his driving test last week, and has just insured his first car. I'm looking forward to being the one who's driven around!