We’ve left a few patches of longer grass around the garden this year, allowing it to mature and flower and I’m convinced this is part of the reason we’ve had such a bumper year for several insect species including C Brunneus.

Creating another more accessible habitat like this, alongside the more established wilder parts has been pretty rewarding, since by their very nature, the wilder areas are left to their own devices. By contrast, areas of longer grass are easy to rummage about in and provide cover for a wide variety of creatures from grasshoppers, beetles and crickets right up to birds and Rabbits. Toddlers are also pretty fond of them.

The familiar chirping of grasshoppers has been a welcome addition to our local sound scape. A truly evocative summer sound, produced by grasshopper stridulation by which a row of minute, evenly spaced pegs on the largest joint of the hindlegs is rubbed over the more prominent veins or ribs on the forewing.

Just a short post tonight as we’ve had a long weekend of traveling, all the way to Suffolk and back for a friend’s 40th birthday. A very late night, the first we’ve spent away from Joe, and the 400 miles mean I’m more than ready for a decent night’s sleep in our own, delicious bed.

German Wasp (Vespula germanica) by blackartz

Now at this time of year, I realise that this may be a risky statement but I love wasps and you should too.

The slightly aggressive, rather clumsy wasps you see in the autumn in the UK are a pale, stunted shadow of their former selves. Earlier in the year, the workers scour the area around their nest for insect prey to feed to the colony’s developing larvae. Gardeners should be particularly glad of the amount of grubs and caterpillars collected and consumed by this voracious army of sisters, for until late summer they’re all sterile female workers, born of a single queen.

All summer the workers either feed on flower nectar or ingest the juices from the meaty prey items they regurgitate to feed the larvae, in return the larvae secrete a super sweet saliva to reward the workers. Once the colony has matured, and there are no more larvae present, it’s this highly nutritious substance which they try to replace, whether it’s our food or drink, the sticky contents of our bins or the fruit in our orchards.

Ultimately, although they’re a nuisance, they’re really just a bit desperate, so waving your arms about or swatting at them just makes things worse. Try to be calm when they’re around and be observant of their habits and behaviour, then you should be able to stay sting free – you may even get to appreciate them for the interesting and beneficial insects they are.