Kitchen Garden Forum

This chap appeared on a sweetcorn as I was potting up seedlings, he stayed long enough for me to fish out my mobile phone and use its camera, before he flew off elsewhere in the greenhouse. A loud flier, dry fluttery. The pot is a 3" for scale and sorry about the blurred image, phone-camers .

Hi Peter,
The image is not clear enough to be sure but I suspect that it is one of the Wood Wasps. I do believe there are several to choose from.
JB.

JB, thank you, I shall look them up, I would have described him as a cross between a beetle and a wasp. Any idea what their diet is?

Horntail also called Wood Wasp in the book I've quoted before "Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe". JB right as ever?

Hi Peter,
Strangely they eat wood or rather they collect wood for their nest which are an absolute work of art. Balls is how you would describe them!
Wonderfully spherical nests attached to the beams in the barns.
When I am working at the bench in one of the tunnels you hear this gating noise and it is the Wood Wasps eating the door frames of the tunnel. To me they are quite beautiful. There are quite a lot hereabouts.
JB.
PS Thanks for the super picture Geoff.JB.

JB, not quite convinced he was a Wood Wasp.
This larger scale picture show that he has bands of bright chrome yellow on his legs and on the end of his antenna.
The tail end does look Wood Wasp though, are there any variants in the UK?

Can you tell us when this sweetcorn is going to be planted?

I assume it's going in a polytunnel (otherwise Mssrs JB & Refail will be on to you about your timing ).

Colin, it is going to mature a bit in 3" pots.
Last year I was too late and most came to naught......

Hi Peter,
I am sure there are either differences within the the Hornet Wasp or there are different kinds of Wood Wasp. Wood Wasp to me is a general term to me. I am positive that I have seen variations either of the Hornet Wasp or allied to the same family. Perhaps Geoff's Collins book may list some variations. Because whereas I agree with you there are some differences between Geoff's shot and your sample. Near but not quite, I would say.
Some of them are considerably larger than your specimen.
Of course the common or garden Wasp gathers wood to make paper for its nest and they too come and eat my tunnel door-frames.
I've taken a photo today where the Wasps have had a real go at part of my fencing but I simply cannot get the hang of putting them onto the forum.
When it comes to anything technical on computers I am simply and totally lost!
JB.

Ah Ah Peter. I can see that you don't believe in washing your pots either!

The important bit is the yellow tail assuming it is not a twisted round leg. I can't find anything else with one. The text says :
"The northern race has a black ovipositor sheath and male has more black on front of abdomen. There are several similar species in Europe."
Here are two pictures pinched from "Wild about Britain" - do they elliminate it?

Geoff, the one on grass or pine needles is closer to my visitor.

they are supposed to be the same thing.

they don't look like it to me, kissin cousins maybe?