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Thank you” George Pilkington

The cuckoo jewel wasp may well be a Chrysis ignata.They are known to be a cleptoparasites of solitary bees, such as red mason bees. This wasp had been inspecting several mud-sealed cavities and unsealed cavities on a red mason bee nest box, in which red mason bees had been actively laying eggs and provisioning for their own young. Unbeknown to it, it has been observed by a zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) a common jumping spider that hunts its prey rather than catching it in a web.

See my new Registered Design award-winning solitary bee box and bumblebee nest box both of which are radical, practical and educational, offering them a safer nesting environment in which you can observe the bees. Great for schools!

For more information about solitary bees and wasps visit BWARS

For more bumblebee information and to help save bumblebees join the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at Stirling University