Nestbox Squatter Confirmed

I was pretty sure that a wasp had started building a nest in the Blue Tit nestbox when I sealed it up a few weeks ago. Yesterday I finally got round to taking that box down so I could have a look.



It is intriguing to ponder just how insects know exactly what to do to make such a perfectly formed nest. No practice makes perfect for them. A perfectly circular structure first time complete with regular hexagons for the cells inside. I wonder which of my fences now has a bright section where the wasp had been rasping at the wood. The nest is such a delicate structure that it hardly weighs anything but robust enough to maintain its shape. It even seems to have an 'umbrella' which, if built in a hedge, would keep rain from soaking the main part of the nest.

As I want to put a more sensitive colour camera in the box for next year I have replaced it with the box which has been in a tree nearby but totally ignored in that position.



The replacement nextbox has a black and white camera with IR lighting and the external camera which monitors outside activity can be seen on the left of the photo.

On our afternoon perambulation there was one spot were there were a number of greenbottle flies one of which was obliging enough to wait while I photographed it.



Seeing the metallic colouring always brings to mind the chapter in Gerald Durrell's book My Family and Other Animals where he meets the Rose Beetle Man. I really must get a new copy of the book as someone seems to have walked off with mine.

The Sycamore trees are in full leaf now and this young one was small enough for me to see and photograph the flowers.



The Hedgehog seems to have taken to its house as there is an occupant for the fourth day running. There has been no sign of the adult hogs recently so maybe this one has finally convinced them that my garden is its territory ;)