Backwater Rescue, Pt. 2 - _TNY_4639

July of 2023 was very dry in many parts of Sweden, including in the Mjällådalen nature reserve near Härnösand.

 

This mean that the water level in the river was extremely low and the water was flowing very slowly with lots of sand banks popping up out of the water.

 

I was visiting together with my son and we jumped onto one of the banks and saw something struggling in the water so grabbing a stick we made a little rescue there and got this female large alder sawfly (Cimbex connatus) onto my son's hand to dry up.

 

This is a large (25 mm / 1") hornet-mimicking sawfly which os completely harmless but since people fall for the mimicry and fear the size, many of them are killed because people don't know better (not that they should kill actual hornets either ofc).

 

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53556169080/

 

For a shot of it on Daniel's hand, have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53779669509/ and a short video of it here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53556169140/

 

If you look at the very end of this video from an adjacent sand bank, the dead log in the center is right next to where we were standing here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53042074405/

Done