An ichneumon wasp, about 2 cm long, laying eggs, probably on beetle larvea, in the dead wood of a piece of log in our backyard. Note how she uses the thin
ovipositor in a rather 'careless' way. The ovipositor is kept in the long sheath when not in use that points backwards regardless of the ovipositor being in
use or not. Filmed july 6th 2008.
An ichneumon wasp on Hogweed. Note the white tipped ovipositor-sheeth. And the bird calls! :) Filmed august 9th 2008.
Hornets on Elm, drinking juice? Filmed September 8th 2008.
Andrena bimaculata, probably males, hovering above a rye field in forest Duivelsberg near Beek, the Netherlands, early spring (March 22nd 2009). See also
the next video.
A female Andrena bimaculata is beset by several male that try to mate. By fighting them off only the strongest male can succeed, natural selection at work.
Filmed in a rye field on March 22nd 2009 in forest Duivelsberg near Beek.
A male Hairy-footed Flowerbee (Anthophora plumipes) foraging on flowering Lungwort in our back garden on March 29th 2009.
Thousands and thousands of Andrena bimaculata species bees flying above the Rye field in which they nest. Filmed April 5th 2010 in forest Duivelsberg near
Beek.
Red Mason Bees (Osmia bicornis, Rosse Metselbij in Dutch), mainly males, hovering in front of one of the bee hotels in our back garden on April 18th
2010. Females working on a nest and returning with pollen/nectar risk being grabbed by one of these hovering males trying to mate. On this beautiful spring
day I saw this happen at least three times. A male grabs a female, the two disappear for a second and usually 'land' somewhere (more like fall to the
ground).See also the diary entry for April 18th 2010.
Colletes daviesanus (Wormkruidbij in Dutch) on Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) in our back garden on July 20th 2010. I think the bees gathering nectar
and/or pollen are females and the ones that harass them are males trying to grab them to mate. This could be seen happening a lot.