Mud Dauber Wasps
Scary, usually peaceable - but scary beasties.
Stinging insects generally evoke, if not terror - at least a bit of ineffectual swatting at the air along with muffled expletives around the BBQ. But for all their seeming threat to life and limb, our bitey - needle jabbing friends have their place, (I know, I want to make correlations with Covid too … but let us let sleeping dogs ‘lie’ - eh?)
Anyhoo, let’s stay on target … HA!
Sorry.
In the last post, I referenced bees, critters to which many of us owe our favourite natural sweetener to.
However, I think that we should also spare a thought for their cousins - the wasps.
They start life as murderous infants, until - much like many of us, they develop a keen interest in sweet, syrupy nectar.
These brightly coloured and industrious insects should, in actuality, be prized by gardeners as they do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping plant munching insects under control - sans chemicals!
Powerful and mighty, these insects are - with the quite dreadful habit of paralysing their prey before stuffing them in a dark and lonely place to be eaten alive by her young when they emerge.
However, they don’t have it all their own way …
All of this isn’t to say that such insects should be trifled with. Many have a powerful sting, and they will utilise it if pressed, but as in so much of life - a little live and let live would go a long way should you happen upon one …
Failing that - feel free to scream and run through the fly screen on your tent and into the side of your truck …
Completely up to you :)
Hey! I really hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that you’re well and happy and that everything is just so :)
Take Care - Bear X
The pics, along with all the grammatical errors and such, are mine alone …