best part of the day: wonderful wasps

19-06-24

An excellent day out on Wednesday the 19th. I had been waiting for a reasonably sunny day to go hunting ruby-tailed wasps along at Musselburgh Lagoons. Jimmy R had been along to see the new hides and do some bird photography and noticed there were ruby tailed wasps around the new wooden gates at the entrances to the hides. This to me was more interesting than virtually any birds. And could be combined with a trip to the other end of Levenhall to revisit the grassy paths where I'd found large skippers, common blues and burnet moths last year. I waited for a decent forecast. Mary was swithering between a long cycle and chumming me. Happily she opted for the latter. I worried slightly that if we saw very little, her enthusiasm would drop off long before mine, but happily there was so much about that we were both equally enthralled.

It is less than 7 miles to the lagoons. We went up the East side of the Esk estuary (Esktuary?) and then hard right before the cinder track. A small group of birds - starlings and goldfinches - flew up from a corner. I said to Mary that I had to stop and have a look and see what was going on. (Even though it was a distraction from the mission.) On the ground, at the edage of the tarmac path, there were a million tiny ants all scurrying this way and that. At first it looked like the birds had been feasting on them but then I noticed the starlings (we held back and let them return) were rolling and pressing their feathers on the ants. Very much encouraging them onto their feathers, rather than (just) eating them. I presume as some sort of natural pesticide or fumigation. (Ants under attack produce formic acid.) Or maybe just as a massage. (Having googled it seems the experts can't agree on the exact purpose; most think it is either a grooming aid or a pleasurable experience.) The starlings were fairly excited by the process, scratching and jumping about like it was a nippy treat. Even when they flew up into a nearby tree I could still see the silhouette of larger ants on them. (Above photo.)

strut your stuff

ooh, tickly!

ant bath! - click twice

look closely and you can see half a dozen ants covering this bird

cornflower

british racing green bottle

We cycled slowly to the first wooden gate - the entrance to the first hide (or maybe the second if you count the one to the West of the lagoons). The first of the three hides on the South side of the new ponds. It seemed unlikely we would see anything in a hurry but to my amazement there was a ruby-tailed wasp on the unvarnished wood. You have to examine all the flies and bugs as you can't really see the amazing colours until you lean in close. Because of this I have probably walked past them many more times than I have seen them. The only other place I've taken photos of them was Saltoun Big Wood. Again it was Jimmy who let me know they were there. I have never come across them in passing or by accident. Big thanks to Jimmy for flagging them up again. Interestingly Unda and Andrew also found them at the lagoons just days before - but along the sea-wall. They tend to like sandy places and old walls in sunlight. As well as wooden posts.

We got off our bikes and leaned them on the fence. I still had the long lens on and in case it flew off never to return, I took a couple of record shots, before changing to the new macro lens. In fact there was no problem with it flying off and returning. Every time the sun disappeared so did this fantastic tiny insect. However within minutes of the sun reappearing, so did the wasp. It would patrol over the gate examining and sometimes going into the cracks in the timber. It is parasitic and so might hunt out the eggs and larvae of other insects on which to place its own. I was surprised and delighted to find one so quickly and we probably spent ages there. Just checked my gps output and it was an hour. All of the wasp photos were at this first gate in that hour.

I had been discussing them with Mairi the previous night on facebook and she had mentioned how skittish they are: she had seen some but they wouldn't sit still for a photo. I wondered if anything could be done about this. I thought they could perhaps be bribed with honey. I got a couple of small containers out and put some runny honey in one, and maple syrup in the other. I also packed wet wipes as those substances do not mix well with cameras.

Chaetocnema - insect book says 2mm or less - ie TINY

In the unsunlit gaps (maybe 50% of the time we were there?) I took photos of the other species sitting on the gate. The coarse wood was a good flat platform on which to get in close with the macro lens. I also got the honey and maple syrup out and put a couple of small drops on the timber. I expected a rush, a tiny whirlwind of bugs queuing up to feast on the sweetness but almost everything ignored it. It went undiscovered for the largest amount of time.

some sort of leaf hopper

google lens says housefly (must've been on holiday)

Then the star of the show would return and Mary and I would move in for a photo. Sometimes it ignored our approaches, other times it would fly off. They are only about 10mm long so I had to get in close to get macro shots, and I was surprised it didn't fly off as I got to within a few inches. We never saw more than one specimen at a time. I thought there was maybe 2, one seemed shy and one seemed bolder, but they are solitary wasps and not found in groups.

I was glad of the wet wipes. I didn't spill the honey or syrup but I did lean my hand on the maple syrup droplet while I was zooming in on the RTW. Managed not to get it all over the camera. Wet wipes to the rescue!

The big insect book prefers the term Cuckoo wasps for these beasties. Chrysididae: 11 gen. 35spp. Though it admits they are sometimes known as jewel or ruby-tailed wasps. They are mostly only available down south but about 3 might happen in Scotland, the most common being Chrysis ignita which you can tell by it having 4 large evenly spaced teeth on its bum. I kid you not. I wouldn't have called them teeth so much as spikes or points but there you go. These are most likely the ones in the pictures.

4 back teeth!

someone finds the maple syrup

meanwhile this buff-tailed bumble does a Tony Montana impression

This Ectemnius wasp was also about 10mm long and had very cute big eyes. Unfortunately it wasn't keen on having its photo taken or holding still. I saw it crawl into the gap between gate timbers and waited till it came back out. Gotcha!

At this point the RTW returned and was crawling along near to the honey droplet. It found it and started eating it. Wow, success! It was there for about 20 seconds and still enough to shoot a load of photos and some stacked shots. Regular readers will know I have been practising this dark art on dead beasties at home and had set my camera to access focus bracketing should such a need arise in a hurry. Shooting hand held focus stacking outdoors is tricky as the tiniest movement will have the RTW out the frame. I think I leaned my hand on the gate and slid in for the multiple shots. It fires off 36 shots with the focus starting at the nearest point and moving in small increments to the back of the shot or the 36th, whichever comes first. I cancelled the process after about 15 as it had reached the wood at the back of the shot. In the end there wasn't a significant difference between the stacked shots and the single shots as it was bright and I could crank the aperture to f22 meaning there was a good depth of field. However it was great practise for hand held stacking with a live insect when conditions are worse and I don't have a gate to lean on.

ruby-tailed wasp at honey drop

single shot at f22
quality lens means minimal diffraction even at f22

about 10 shots stacked - not much difference

another stacked composite image done in Helicon

single image

Ectemnius again

I was on the wrong side of the gate (shooting into the sun) when the RTW returned and rather than chase it away going through the gate, took a couple shots of it back at the honey.

single shot

stacked image

this image gives more of an idea of what you see
when you lean in to confirm it is a RTW - they are not big

After more than an hour with our new bestie, we decided to explore elsewhere. Firstly we checked the other 2 gates to the other 2 hides along the South edge of the lagoons. Within minutes of visiting them we found another solitary wasp at each. I think we stopped for pics at gate 2, but they weren't as successful as the first lot, so moved onto gate 3. Again we were intrigued to find yet another wasp. Since we had achieved more than hoped for at the first gate we didn't hang about, as there was a feeling the sun may not either. The rest of our wish list could be waiting for us along at what I have called Levenhall in the past. The grassy trail just South East of the most Easterly lagoon. We were hoping to see large skippers, common blues and burnet moths. (And admirals, meadow browns, ringlets and anything else normally found in June.)

tiger crane fly

pupa and eggs
(ladybird or shieldbug?)

The new lagoons and hides are spectacular. The planting has bedded in nicely and with all the rain has exploded into a wilderness of wildflowers and perfect cover for a ton of biodiversity. We can't believe the council has chosen this and not opted for 400 student flats as has happened elsewhere. It makes a beautiful place to walk or cycle. The water at the lagoons was a bit scummy - that algae stuff - but otherwise it was all looking fantastic.

ringlet

I spent ages chasing a very frustrating ringlet which kept looking like it was going to land but never resting for half a second while staying in as deep grass as possible. Very frustrating! Usually after I get a half decent photo I forget about them for the rest of the season. Not a spectacular butterfly but like meadow browns, good to see and record. Especially in a year when everything has been reluctant to come out to play.

We parked our bikes at Levenhall and began to quarter the ground, looking for butterflies. Mary headed in the opposite direction from myself. I had been super excited to see the RTWs and might have been a bit full of it and not very relaxing company. So while she disappeared over the western horizon I went East and almost immediately came upon a medium sized yellow dragonfly in the grass. It didn't zoom off which suggested it was recently emerged and drying its wings. I got a few photos but just could not work out what species it was. It was too large for a common darter and wasn't one of the local species I was familiar with. I actually got it on my hand but before I could take a photo it upped and flew off, not stopping before it cleared the horizon heading for the lagoon.

It is rare I am completely stumped about dragonflies because there are just not that many types flying locally. Once I got home I looked it up and worked out it was a black-tailed skimmer, an immature male before it gets a blue pruinescence very much like the broad-bodied chasers, and black tail. A species I'd never seen before. A real red letter day. Checking records for the area I see they have been recorded by Alan Brown and others at Seton ponds and maybe one or 2 other spots last year but not at the lagoons, and not this year. I was very pleased to have this appear in front of me when least expecting it.

even though many species are suffering this season, yellow shell moths have

had a bumper crop and continue to fly at near plague proportions!

a smart new large skipper (m)

when disturbed they zip around like orange darts

but will often to return to the same or nearby perch

there was just one common blue as far as we could tell

but it was in great condition

a distant hunter

female large skippers tend to have more pronounced wing markings

There was no shortage of beautiful and exotic insects, but some of my favourite images today were of this common greenbottle. The light reflecting off its shiny back revealing 2 layers of bristles; larger and smaller, and the compound eyes. Just stuff you (meaning I) can't see without magnification. I wouldn't want them in my house but they are fabulous creatures to photo. And this one was very unfazed by my proximity, letting me get right in its face. (I took the flash off after the RTWs. It was quite a bright day and so everything at Levenhall, from the dragonfly onwards, is with the macro lens but without additional lighting. Which explains the large dark areas. When you zoom into very small things the flash fill becomes more imperative.)

The Lucilia Caesar is the most common of the greenbottles but you'd need to get out a microscope to tell with any certainty (by looking at the bristles). (This goes for all my previously (foolishly) confident IDs of Marsh Greenbottles etc. Because they all look the flippin same.) This is one of the things that is both fascinating and frustrating. It would be handy to be able to apply a label and say well that's definitely that, but so often, with 25,000 species of insect in the UK, there are going to be a few that look very similar. And (as I have proved) a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The more I learn, the more the gaps in my knowledge seem to expand. I shall move forward, confident that I am making a complete bollocks of it, but that most people won't know the difference or care. The art background in me shouts its the pictures! Nobody cares about the names! (Except maybe the scientists and geeks?)

Tiger cranefly - Nephrotoma flavescens
not even in the big insect book!

What a day! Ruby tailed wasps, starling's antics, (thanks Mary), a brand new dragonfly, a dozen large skippers and the sun shining. Mary was nearly as excited about the insects as I was, and we were both ready to return home at the same point (not me saying oh can I just have another 15 minutes?!) I have seen RTWs at Saltoun since the 19th and they were not on good behaviour - they just flew off when I went anywhere near. So I think we got very lucky with them on the gates at the new hides. 17miles cycled and out for 5hrs. It flew by! Having so much fun I forgot to mention the homemade sandwiches.