Andy Phillips

Xorides wasp ovipositing eggs into long-horned beetle larva on log pile at Great Dixter. The wasp 'listens' for the beetle larva activity with its antennae, locates its location and then drives its ovipositor through the wood straight into the larval burrow. Wasps are awesome!

Population explosion of Phratora vulgatissima at FIlsham Reedbed turning sallow scrub brown. The Symmorphus bifasciatus population should be doing well this year, preys on Phratora vulgatissima larvae and nests in reed stems and cigar galls. The wasp can be easy to find by sweeping reed.