| Wasps are
social insects and well known to everyone. Colonies build
up during the Summer and can eventually total several
thousand by the time the colony dies at the onset of cold
weather. Only the young queens survive the Winter,
hibernating in sheds and hollow trees etc, to start new
colonies in the Spring. A ground-nesting species which
appears through my own casual observations over the
years, to be commonest in the Sherwood Forest area of
Nottinghamshire. Budby Common is a regular site and
others have been found recently at Bevercotes Pit Wood
and Eakring. It is quite an easy species to identify,
with the rufous markings on the first and second
abdominal segments (coupled with the pattern of black
markings) usually being diagnostic. The extent of red
colouration can vary. |
