Saturday 26 July 2008
Roesel's bush-cricket
Wednesday 23 July 2008
Tuesday 15 July 2008
Monday 14 July 2008
Cardington Lock - 14th July
Sunday 13 July 2008
Crime pays!
Once the debris that had hidden the hole had been cleared the caterpillar was dragged in:
Once an egg had been laid on the prey the process of filling in the borrow began:
Then a fight broke out, I suspect between two females, rather than an attempted mating:
and the winner, the original wasp, continued filling the burrow for another forty minutes:
Both the wasp and I then left the scene. I returned 11 minutes later to find another wasp digging open the burrow, and four minutes later exhume the caterpillar:
This was chewed around the head for four minutes (I'm not sure why) and inspected, presumably to find and remove the egg laid by the first wasp:
It was then re-buried in the same burrow:
And filled-in again, taking another forty minutes, and finished with a few twigs:
This was an intra-species crime and the DNA of the thief will prevail in this case. Was the thief the same wasp that had fought earlier and had bided its time for over forty minutes to take the spoils? Fascinating. You can see why the Ammophila genus has been much studied.
Pictures by Keith Balmer
Wednesday 9 July 2008
Recent colonist visits Suburbia - Bombus hypnorum
Thursday 3 July 2008
Hanging by a thread
Pictures by Keith Balmer
Tuesday 1 July 2008
Tool-using Wasp?
During the enlargement process she briefly wielded this pebble seemingly like an hammer bashing the opening before discarding it and digging again with her feet and jaws...
Once the caterpillar was housed the hole was filled in, using her head as a vibrating ram - I could hear her buzzing as she packed the material hard. Small pebbles were finally arranged over the surface.
Pictures by Keith Balmer
Sharpenhoe Clappers Butterflies - 1st July
The Marbled Whites weren't very obliging either. These are the best I could grab...
Pictures by Keith Balmer