Paper wasps

Common paper wasps Polistes humilis nesting at Casa da Ayre. Image © Gavin Ayre 2014 

I am always amazed at the amount of life all around us here in Lake Macquarie if you take the effort to look.  I was enjoying breakfast in the gloriously fresh morning air with my wife this morning and a small movement caught my eye.  I looked up to the roof above us and noticed these paper wasps had built a nest.  So I grabbed Amanda's camera & took a couple of quick shots.  This one was my favourite image.

What is interesting to me is that you can see most of the stages here from eggs through to larvae that are almost ready to pupate.  Unlike Honey bees, you can see how the cells are all open.  The larvae will seal itself off in its' cell when it is ready to pupate and eventually emerge as an adult wasp.