Medium Size - _TNY_7918
This wasp is an unusually dark median wasp (Dolichovespula media). She, along with all her sisters and her queen had built a nest underneath a wall-mounted bench on my mother-in-law's patio (making the patio pretty much unusable) so I inched closer and managed a couple of shots of them without them becoming agitated. Since I had the MP-E65 mm lens on the camera, the front glass was 10.1 cm / 4" from the wasps (and the diffusor even closer), but they did nothing towards me.
The median wasp, sometimes known as the French wasp in the UK is the largest eusocial wasp in Sweden not counting the European hornet - in Germany it is actually sometimes known as "Kleine Hornisse" - "small hornet" even if it doesn't belong to Vespa like true hornets.
Unfortunately, the wasp nest had to be removed as my MIL did want to be able to be outside on the patio this summer (ie of 2024).
For a shot showing the face of one of the wasps, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53847987888/
(and a cropped version of the same shot here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53888548232/)
Medium Size - _TNY_7918
This wasp is an unusually dark median wasp (Dolichovespula media). She, along with all her sisters and her queen had built a nest underneath a wall-mounted bench on my mother-in-law's patio (making the patio pretty much unusable) so I inched closer and managed a couple of shots of them without them becoming agitated. Since I had the MP-E65 mm lens on the camera, the front glass was 10.1 cm / 4" from the wasps (and the diffusor even closer), but they did nothing towards me.
The median wasp, sometimes known as the French wasp in the UK is the largest eusocial wasp in Sweden not counting the European hornet - in Germany it is actually sometimes known as "Kleine Hornisse" - "small hornet" even if it doesn't belong to Vespa like true hornets.
Unfortunately, the wasp nest had to be removed as my MIL did want to be able to be outside on the patio this summer (ie of 2024).
For a shot showing the face of one of the wasps, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53847987888/
(and a cropped version of the same shot here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53888548232/)