Mimicry...

After dropping Alex in Huntingdon, I headed down to Gamlingay Wood to do some grassland quadrats along the rides. I took the dogs as I wasn't sure there would be any spare time to walk them later. We had a pleasant three hours working, and I actually go the chance to see some of the western end of the wood. The main ride is pretty spectacular at the moment - hundreds of palest pink common spotted orchids just at the peak of perfection. Later on in the year it'll be a riot of purple, magenta and white - devil's-bit scabious, purple loosestrife and meadowsweet in abundance.

While I was doing one of my quadrats I spotted this very spectacular saw-fly. It's one of the few species that can be easily identified from its general appearance and goes by the name of Tenthredo scrophulariae. The fat whitish larvae, which are sprinkled with fine black dots, eat the leaves of common figwort, and it's supposed to be relatively frequent in woodlands, though I don't recall seeing it before. It's certainly an excellent mimic and would fool birds (and some people) into believing that it is a nasty stinging wasp, when in fact it's completely harmless and would make a very tasty meal (for a bird, that is)!