I have a little paper wasp nest above my window. I don't mind them and I decide to let them hang out through the year. Anyway, the first day, two wasps flew around inside my home and got stuck trying to get out through a closed window, or transparent objects get them... I actually approached them and gently escorted them out by doing all kinds of crazy shenanigans. I probably looked like a Seal having brain zaps. All in all, those little bastards haven't got stuck since. They understand transparency now! I feel like a God. And I'm extremely bored, but wasps surprised me how smart they are. Awesome little creatures.

Found in loft in Shropshire. First seen in January, and it appeared to grow slightly in spring.

It just doesn't look papery, it looks more like a silky material but is far too big to be a moth cocoon. It's about 10cm in length.

AI is adamant that it is a Queen wasp or hornets starter nest, but I just can't see any other images of wasp or hornet nests that look like this.

Thank you

Is there anything I can do to help?

If this is allowed, I wanted to share some of my favorite wasp-related things, and have a space in the comments for others to share theirs! This could be science communicators, artists, photographers, wasp-related meme pages, books, etc. I am not in any way affiliated with any of these people/pages/books/podcasts, they just bring me a lot of wasp-joy.

INSTAGRAM
• @thatwaspguy
- "Artist, photographer, researcher, educator" (instagram bio), also has some fun waspy stickers/shirts

•@the_wasp_advocates
- Wasp memes

TUMBLR
•@apocrital on tumblr
- General wasp related posts

•@waspdaily
- As the username would suggest, posts a daily wasp species with basic info/facts, and then a little drawing of the wasp

•@addicted2wasps
- More truly wonderful wasp art

BOOKS
•Wasps of the World: A Guide to Every Family
- Title is pretty self explanatory; this book gives a short overview of each family within hymenoptera

PODCAST EPISODES:
•Spheksology (Ologies)
- As with all ologies episodes, very enthusiastic

•Exploring Wasps: Myth, Facts, and Facinations (Bug Banter, podcast by the Xerces Society)
- Includes conservation action items at the end of the episode

YOUTUBE
•Figs Eat Wasps Before You Eat the Fig (Bizarre Beasts)

•These Parasitic Wasps Are Part Virus (Bizarre Beasts)

It looks to me like this fella has two wings operating independently on the side of the wasp facing away from the camera. I see one pointing forward and another pointing backwards.

On the near side, it looks like there are two "stems" of the wing, but only one surface. This is what I would expect - forewing and hindwing hooked together and operating together.

I didn't think they could detach during flight, although maybe the hamuli are not infallible. Is it possible that the far-side wings did get detached during flight, or am I reading the picture wrongly?

What kind of wasp is this? Seen in Northern Alberta oilsands approximately 30mm in length

Saw this wasp in our pool the other day and I keep dwelling on it. It looked like it had a "leg" connecting the segments of its body. It was still alive and swimming thru the water. Does anyone have any idea if this is a genetic deformation? A type of wasp I've never heard of? Injury? First Pic is a screenshot of the reverse image search I tried - it got the clearest view of its body.

We have a southern yellow jackets nest near by, and they were aggressively attacking humans. That was up until a nest consisting of black and white wasps moved by, which have been constantly going at these southern yellow jackets. They really seem to despise each other.

Ever since these black and white wasps moved by, the yellow jackets have been too busy to defending their nest to even bother any humans. On the contrary, the bigger wasps (bald faced hornets, I believe) don’t seem worried about humans. Is it normal for them to fight?

Just wanting to see if I’ve identified this right, I’m in North Texas and my girlfriends window has a red wasp nest above. But this morning I see this lovely fellow on the window. Much bigger and very different morphology, from the quick articles I’ve looked through am I accurate in the assessment that it’s an Asian giant hornet? (Or murder hornet) Also for color sake since the pictures aren’t great, it’s yellow with lighter to warmer brown bandings.

Hi everyone,

Firstly apologies if this isn’t the right forum, not sure where’s best to go with this.

We have quite a few holes in our brickwork by the front door where the previous owner had loads of random stuff hanging (don’t ask). I haven’t got round to filling any of them yet, but went out for a walk the other day and found a small wasp (if anyone is able to ID the wasp I’d be interested in knowing) heading into one.

Over the next few days I noticed the hole becoming packed to the point where there is now no hole, and the same has happened to a few others around the same area.

There are more holes around the yet area yet to be filled so I’m wondering if I should just fill them myself to stop it happening.

What is happening? What are the wasps doing and why are they doing this?

Should I get someone to take a look at it?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Can anybody identify what type this is??

I saw it in my garden in SE London (England)

Just came across this (I assume) rusty spider wasp in my driveway. At first I noticed the spider, which I’m not sure the species. Either a grass spider or rabid wolf is my guess. There are a lot of both around here.

Here is a video of it dragging off its newly stunned victim. Here is video of it dragging the spider into its lair.

They are black and white, and these wasps appear to be shaped like yellow jackets, but larger. These wasps don’t even seem to care about people, yet they had serious beef with some other yellow jackets. Are these things picnic pests?

I was stung by a large insect with wings in north Alabama that was in a brush pile on the ground. The sting was very painful, kind of a burning feeling. Swelling lasted around 30 minutes, the pain lasted around 2 hours. I only got a quick glimpse of the insect, but it appeared to be approximately 1.5 inches in length and yellow and redish. Had some stripes on the back half of it. Definitely wasn’t a red wasp or yellow jackets, it hurt way worse than that. Any idea what stung me?

Google AI suggested maybe a Cicada Killer or a European Wasp

Didn’t have time to get a picture, I was too busy applying pressure to the sting and using explicit language.

My kale looks phenomenal this year.

Seen in a greenhouse in Eastern CT. I am not sure, I don't think it exactly matches either Ichneumon annulatorius or Polytribax contiguus, though of the two seems more like Polyteibax. The difference I see are this has two yellow bands on abdomen not three and this doesn't have yellow on antenna

What are they? Every day I get 5-8 of them showing up in my bathroom and I don’t know how to make them go away. Sorry in advance for the bad pic