Vespula Vulgaris - Waspish

Defined as snappish, petulant and irritable. 

Yet despite their poor reputation amongst picnic goers world wide, the wasp is actually a very sociable insect (as far as other wasps are concerned that is) living as it does in large colonies.  

At this time of year the few wasps that you see are probably the fertile females or males (drones).  Once the drones have done their business the newly mated queens will hibernate, ready to start building a new nest next Spring.  All the other wasps, the drones, the old queen and the workers die off from starvation in the colder weather.

This healthy looking wasp was busy chewing the wood of the shed, striping it, presumably to turn into paper as part of a hibernation structure.  I'm guessing that it might therefore be a female, but it seemed relatively small, so perhaps not.

If you're not put off by this sort of thing there's more hairy detail in large ...