Everybody's favourite insect...

My first blipfoto of a wasp, taken today in a rare blaze of sunshine at lunchtime today on a willow tree beside the loch on our office's business park. It is, I am sure, a Common Wasp (scientific name: Vespula vulgaris). Wasps, not popular, are, nevertheless, important insects for gardeners, feeding heavily on aphids in Spring when feeding their larvae. These benefits however are a bit undermined by the damage that wasps do to fruit such as plums in Autumn as they (the queen wasps?) try to build up reserves for the Winter from the sugars in the fruit. Seen close-up, wasps have amazingly powerful-looking serrated mandibles. And who has ever noticed that wasps are so hairy???