for those who don't like flies...

...a Field Digger Wasp, Mellinus arvensis with one in its mouth.

This is one of Britain and Ireland's most common solitary wasps. It flies quite late in the year, being active from late July to October. It hunts a range of large flies for stocking its larval brood cells.

This particular wasp was not what I was hoping to blip. Just before spotting this one, I had found a much rarer and more bizarre kind of wasp. Chalcid wasps are one of the largest groups within the ants, wasps and bees family, yet there is not much published information on them. There are about 22,000 known species with an estimate ranging anywhere from 60,000 to 500,000 total species - which means there are more to be discovered than have yet been found! The one that I spotted was a female Osmyrus nitidulus. She has amazing metallic-blue stripes and devilish red eyes. The reason I haven't featured her is that my back misbehaved just as I was pressing the shutter. This caused my image to be blurred and, more disappointingly, my lens hood caught the bush and spooked the wasp into flying away and never being seen again.

Despite being an imperfect photograph, it is well worth a look...