Luxor4u

"Can you yer see what it is yet ? [said with an Aussie accent] holding a chilled beer....

'the devil makes work for idle hands.......

Shame I cant work out how big it is... Any particular variety ?

taking of butterflies, I was back in the dales in my old house just after Chrsitmas, and my Auntie went off into the kitchen,
came back into the lounge, and placed a red Admiral butterfly on my leg.. it flew off after a few moments.. Weird..

Another Useless fact as I have just been chasing a bumble bee out of the garage, but did you know that the old name for the Bee was
Dumbledore....

I believe in preserving nature, so since coming here I have accumulated a large collection of beautiful butterfly's and moths. They are under the chairs, settees, tables and beds. In fact anywhere one of the cats can stuff them after catching them. I think the safest bet would be a preflight check before venturing over my garden. One thing I don't chase over here BM are the zeenarners, the Egyptian version of the Stuka dive bomber. Big, fast and with attitude.

Now, funnily enough, there is a tale to tell regarding the decomissioning of my old garage.. < - - - ( imaginary beard.. )

A few weeks ago, I noticed a wasp's nest in the making on the rafters, only the size of a small ball,
but there seemed to be only one wasp involved in this venture, and day by day this nest got slightly bigger,
then a few eggs appeared inside it.

I do not like to interfere with mother nature, everything has a right to live and be here, so I was presented with a problem.
My wife insited I get rid of it, but I said no, as the garage was not due to come down till this week..
Plus, it was fascinating watching the was come out of the garage, find some wood, and run itself up and down the wood, collecting its
building material, I woudl then follow it into the garage and watch it apply the materials to the nest..

I had some pictures of the nest, but my Wife filed them on this computer, so they could be anywhere...


long story short, wasp in my prayers, and a couple of weeks ago, the wasps nest had fallen down,
still only a small nest, but clearly Mr or Mrs wasp had not anchored the nest correcty, so my problem was solved..

Just enough time to finish my brew, hoover out the car, and settle down in the garden for the evening with a book, brew, and a scud missile, to hit the spot.. ...

Later's ..

Some years ago one of the houses I had bought to refurbish was a very large Victorian pile. The interconnecting roof voids were a challenge to mat out with insulation with tight narrow connecting holes and differing roof levels, but my son and I managed it eventually. We were both suited up, with face masks and both of us wore glasses. About the worst job for any one waring specks is this type of job. It was sweaty, dusty and dim [light wise] I noticed a wasp on my glove, wafted it away, only for another to appear. I grabbed the portable light to see what must of been the biggest wasps nest on the planet, years in the making. There was also several other nests from early stage build to mature. I couldn't even guess how many of the critters were living there. So I donned my paint sprayers face mask, double suited up, double wrapped my head plus thick gloves and attacked with three tins of fly spray. You would not believe the amount that came in for the kill. Never got stung, but it took two days of constant spraying to make safe the area. I removed the nests and burnt them, but not before I took a good look at the massive one. It really was a work of art, with all the chambers and tunnels. Just looked like it was made of paper. I had thought of varnishing it as an item of interest in our home, but the powers that be [or should that be be a wasp?] said no as it could spring back to life. The female thought proses, unique.

The Nests ( STILL Looking for the picture's) are made from Wood pulp and saliva sp ( spit to you and me)..

here, they like to collect the wood from my gatepost and fenceposts, gnawing away at the wood in vertical lines while flying.
I once saw an ant in the wasp's path while it was gnawing away, somehow the 2 unphased, passed each other...weird..

So, yes, your Monster nest was made out of paper..
Although the paper does not break up when wet..
You see, my wasps nest fell into a bucket of water that was catching the raindrops that were not supposed to be getting into my garage..

I have to admit, and now maybe I will "bee" inspired to look it up.. but WHAT exactly do wasps do ? apart from instill the fear of god into you.

Butterflys, appaerntly had something to do with this topic..

they are like little people.... ( yes we have wings too) Maybe they are a reminder to the Human race...

That poses a good question as I have never seen a wasp pollinating flowers. But I have seen them very interested in dis-guarded sweet things, sugar, ice cream and chocolate. Ants don't seem to do much, only provide food for other foragers. There are wasp catchers amongst the bird population, but would of thought that if there were no wasps, they would settle for something else. And I think, unlike bee's when they sting you, they don't die. Seems only a size ten boot can finish the job. I agree for I've seen plenty of the coffin dodgers here with 'bingo wings'. Perhaps evolution is staring to go backwards. Could be a planet of angels in a couple of thousand years from now. Butterfly's are OK, colourful and graceful in flight, but far to much methodical slowness for my liking. They remind me of the colony of fairies that used to live at the bottom of my garden that suddenly dissipated into the night sky one mid summers eve. Whereas a wasp seems to have purpose in life, but as yet is a mystery to us.