As the first warm and sunny spring days arrived the European paper wasp (Polistus dominala) aggregations started breaking up. From all corners and cavities the wasps surfaced to warm up in the sun. Some left almost immediately while a substantial number remained. after more sunny days passed their numbers steadily dwindled; at the time of writing this article there are three of them left. Deep in each of the cracks where the aggregation overwintered a single specimen is visible but I suspect they are dead.
Of the three remaining wasps one scraped wood from the nest block, but the cavity in which it disappeared is claimed by a rather large spider. Although there seems to be mutual respect between the creatures it does not seem a valid location to start a nest from a human point of view. The other two hang around the entrance to the cavity.
Literature
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