White-tailed bumblebee on hemp agrimony
Anyhow, I was so caffeinated by the time we got home that I sat outside in the garden for a bit. The hemp agrimony is in flower, and that always attracts a range of pollinators who seem to like its raggedy flowers. There’s usually a crab spider or two lurking as well, but as I can’t actually walk over to see them they’ll have to wait for now.
Leaf cutter bee on hemp agrimony
But then I spotted this little chap. This is some kind of potter wasp, which is most exciting – they are difficult to identify to species level, but all of them build some kind of chamber (sometimes in a hollow stem, sometimes out of mud, or in cracks in walls or pavements) and then lay a single egg. They then catch as many as twenty caterpillars and pop them into the chamber, to feed the larva when it hatches. The males have no sting, and that of the female is rarely used on people, and is unlikely to even be able to penetrate the skin. All in all, I’m delighted (though the caterpillars may not be).
I’m currently waiting for some help with id’ing the species, but I suspect it’s one of the solitary wasps. I’ll keep you updated!
And incidentally, while scrolling through what-used-to-be-Twitter yesterday, I came across this extraordinary artist, Liza Adamczewski. Based in Pembrokeshire, she’s started a project called #1000postcards – every day, she paints a postcard-sized portrait of an animal, plant, fungus etc that she’s seen on her land. She describes herself as ‘an accidental ecologist’, and her work is truly beautiful – she says that the postcards project is a way of ‘sending out messages from nature’. Well worth a look! And you can read an interview with her here, where she describes not only the postcards, but the extraordinary triptychs that she makes. The latest one featured a little owl and two bees.
One of Liza Adamczewski’s #1000postcards – leaf-cutter bee (from https://x.com/lizaadamczewski)
The great adventure begins! I love the postcard idea … how fortunate artistically talented people are – and wonderful when they share their talent with others.
I love it too. It really cheers me up.
Hemp agrimony is a strange one for me. Much as I love it for attracting insects, somehow the name just refused to stick in my mind and I had to look it up every year. Then on a visit to Arundel Wetland a few years ago a fellow visitor identified it for me. Now I see the plant, remember that visit and helpful woman and the name usually pops up.
So pleased to read “Adventures with a Wheelchair” have started. Take care but mostly have lots of fun
It is a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it! I wouldn’t be without it, for all that it ends up looking like a frayed mop-head…
I think it must be some kind of a similar leaf cutter that is enjoying chewing the leaves on our solitary rhubarb plant. Fortunately the rhubarb itself is doing quite well.
On the subject of balance I’ve recently found that even a fatigue mat upsets my sense of balance. I used to find the sponge layer helpful when standing at the kitchen sink etc. Certain areas of the “older” brains often shrink and upset our walking/ standing ability. Poorly aligned pedestrian crossings can be just as hazardous for any wheelchair and/or pram use. When that issue is aggravated by poor drainage it becomes a total nightmare.
So true! The island in the middle of our local zebra crossing has a higher ‘kerb’ at one side than the other, a definite trap for the unwary. I got ‘stuck’ there the first time I pushed Mum in a wheelchair, and one of the drivers leapt out to help, which was lovely of them. Usually you just get tooted at….