The first sightings of the season … and we have been on the lookout! These tiny, slender wasps are now actively nesting in their usual patch of dirt.

This is a species we’ve come to know well, having closely monitored their nesting activites over the past five seasons. We have recently prepared a manuscript (currently undergoing peer review) describing this in detail … so it’s rewarding to see them back again, and behaving just as they have in the past.

Rhopalum coriolum [26th Aug]

Within days of first appearing, the females are actively stocking their underground nests. They hunt small flies, paralysing them before flying them to the burrow. With crane flies like this one, the wasps routinely cut off the long legs … no doubt to simplify transport.

These wasps are not around for long. By mid-late September the adults will be gone, leaving their larvae tucked away underground.

Rhopalum coriolum [31st Aug]

Another very familiar crabronid has started to make an appearance. This female Cerceris would have emerged last Autumn, and since then has been resting in her natal burrow. She may return there for a time, and perhaps even use that burrow to house her own young. Alternatively, she will find a suitable spot nearby and excavate a new nest.

By mid summer this patch of sand will get very busy. Each year the clustered burrows of Cerceris share the patch with nesting Lipotriches, small Lasioglossum, and others.

Cerceris antipodes [3rd Sept]