Sunday 5 July 2015

I flippin' hate wasps 1

There's a paving stone, partway down the garden, where my bees crawl to to die...


It does seem a bit grim, I'll grant you that.  But the bees are doing the colony a favour, dead bodies don't pile up in the hive and foragers are not distracted from important foraging work by needing to keep clearing out the dead bees before they start to rot and spread disease through the colony.

I've been watching birds come and clear up the corpses - I guess they are a crunchy candy snack for passing Magpies and Robins.  But some other critters are learning about the snack bar, and some of them are especially not welcome...

Its like a macro level Serengeti down there. Wasps are patrolling the edges of the dandelion leaves...


Wrestling the dying bees to the ground...grabbing them from behind so the bee can not sting them...


Chewing through the bee's body to separate the abdomen from the thorax...


I'm guessing they are after the abdomen as it is mainly softer tissues, including the stomach, where there may be traces of honey...


Finally flying off with the abdomen...


Nature in action - brutal even at the macro level.  :(

1 comment:

  1. Great images there - gonna have to watch out aren't I!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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