Hive

It's been another very hot day today with hardly any outdoor activity. All morning I was gathering repertoar for a potential music-job, in the shady, cooler part of the house but had to give up closer to lunch to find a place with some breeze. After lunch I didn't produce anything at  all, it wasn't possible -or necessary.

I went to the beach in the late afternoon but chose the wrong side of the island, the windy side. It wasn't windy around the house so I didn't check before I went. Instead, I went for a short walk and stopped at a tree by the entrance of the Grove where I know large wasps are living. They have built this "shield" to cover the entry to their nest but I took a picture underneath it to see what's behind. I don't want to stick around there for very long. I can just about see the shape of the hexagonal nursery, I think. 

They are large and sounds a bit like helicopters but I don't know what they are called, I think they are Vespa crabro, or Hornets. If so, they are friendly but they certainly don't look like it and if I get too close to the nest they are very curious and fly a bit too close for my comfort. The extra is an older picture of one sitting on a trunk. They are about 2 cm long.

Velvet night tonight -and tomorrow they say.