Back in 2016, during day time, there were strange noise and at first I thought a cat had gotten itself caught in something. I went out and looked about. Nothing.
As I turned to go back into the house I heard the sound again but still saw nothing.
At night it was so loud that I had to find out what was causing the noise.
It is not the greatest footage but I had several people who would not believe me when I told them that I had meat-eating wasps.
I first noticed how food left by hedgehogs in a dish was gradually vanishing during the day. I observed flies on the left-overs and then I saw a wasp kill a fly on the food. What I saw next I had not witnessed before. The wasp took a piece of the left-over cat food that was almost the equal of its own size and flew off (badly) with the morsel.
I saw other wasps cut away pieces of chicken slices and fly off with said morsels. Some 2-3 (I assume there might have been others but as none carried identification numbers I have no idea) wasp finished off quite a bit of meat and at times I had to chase them off (or tried to as they were rather big bullies) for a cat to get the food.
Of course, the wasps needed the meat as it wa a good source of protein that they would need. Hopefully, if we get a good summer in 2021 I can get better footage.
Just a selection of photos but I think I will take advantage of 2021 to launch a full survey of my garden.
Should be fun.
If you are interested in what can be found in YOUR garden check out my previous posts as they give you some idea of what you might find -and photograph!
People keep posting online and saying that hedgehogs are recovering after being Red Listed. I keep telling them that the species has not...
.jpg)
