🍂🐝 At the end of October on the Northern Hemisphere, common wasps (Vespula vulgaris) enter a phase of retreat and transformation. Most worker wasps and drones die off as the weather cools, while newly fertilized queens find sheltered spots to hibernate through winter, preparing to start a new colony in spring. During this period, the few remaining wasps seek out the last bits of nourishment before the temperatures drop too low for them to remain active.

🌷🌳🍂☃️ When I see a wasp nibbling on a dead spider at this time of year, it becomes a symbol of the last efforts in nature’s cycle. She herself is bound to the limits of her lifecycle, shaped by the greater rhythms of the seasons. She represents a moment when even the smallest beings, like ourselves, must align our actions with nature’s cycle, adapting to external conditions that shape and connect us all.

In this transitional season, the wasp reminds me that our interconnectedness with the world is constantly shifting, just as we must adapt and find our place within the phases of life, always dependent on the larger cycle that sustains us.

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🌦🍂 Last day of September: This paper wasp (Polistes dominula) is dying. In September, all of them die, except for the young queens. It is cold and rainy, and it no longer has the strength to fly.

Wasps evoke different reactions in people. The paper wasp is very peaceful and rarely stings, even if you approach its nest. You can recognize it by its orange wings and legs.

I personally don’t perceive other wasps as aggressive either, as long as one respects their natural behavior and boundaries. I forgive and accept that they are not always capable of such foresight themselves.

However, many people react aggressively or fearfully at the sight of a wasp. These strong emotions limit compassion and make it easier to cause these animals harm.

But even if we try to cultivate compassion, true intentions and contexts can easily be misunderstood.

This wasp is visibly moving toward me. It does not want to attack me. Nor is it seeking contact with me as a person. It simply wants my body heat because, in its own perception, it is freezing and still fighting for survival in its final hour.

Yet I leave it to nature, because I understand that its desire, without its knowledge, would only prolong its own suffering.

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Move your body! 💃🌿
You must have moved while watching this 😜

The thorny stick insect (Aretaon asperrimus) relies on its branch-like appearance and begins to wiggle when it's "branch" moves, which makes it blend in with the movements of the vegetation in nature.

This is an old recording from 2017.
I no longer keep them.

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Tasty thistle!😋 A female yellow-banded furrow bee (Halictus scabiosae) is having a good time near the Stierstädter Heide, a dry heath and nature reserve in Oberursel, where she finds open areas of ground that are ideal for creating her nesting holes.

🌼🪻 Currently, there are lots of thistles and false dandelions growing everywhere in the city, alongside many other flowering plants, that are popular food sources. It has been raining for weeks.

🐝🐝 They do not form colonies with a queen and workers, like the honey bee, but each female furrow bee has her own nesting hole with her own offspring. However, they often form clusters by building their nesting holes next to each other.

🐝🐝 The yellow-banded furrow bee is about the size of a honey bee, and a female could be mistaken for one at first glance. However, their markings are very different.

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If I were a bumblebee... 🌸🐝

This common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), a species of bumblebee, is looking for sweet nectar, but only finds pollen in this flower, which is also tasty. The garden lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) does not offer nectar, but has a kind of pumping mechanism in its flowers that is triggered by the bumblebee and delivers the valuable pollen. This is transported to the nest of this social species, where it mainly serves as food for the offspring. Bumblebees fly to up to 1000 flowers every day in up to 18 hours to look for food.

🐝 What would you do if you were a bumblebee?

1. Fly from flower to flower all day
2. Rest on a sunny flower and take a nap
3. Hide in a blossom and watch people
4. Something else (please explain)

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Hello, where is the nectar?🥹 The dark arches (Apamea monoglypha) belongs to the family of owlet moths. It is a very common species in most parts of Europe and Central Asia. Its caterpillars like to nibble on the roots of grasses and the moth flies around all night, attracted by the sweet scent of flowers.🌸🌛 It orientates itself using natural light sources such as the moon, but artificial light sources interfere with its navigation, which is why it sometimes gets lost in homes.

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The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) has a much calmer temperament than the common wasp. It has a wide range of hunting habits, including different insects and spiders. The European paper wasp is a social insect and absolutely worth learning more about its interesting behaviour. Originally native to Eurasia and North Africa, it has now spread to all continents, replacing native species there.

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The ivy bees (Colletes hederae) are one of the 15 species of plasterer bees native to Germany.

🌿🐝🎶🌞

Their nests are lined with a cellophane-like plastic using secretions from two glands at the end of the abdomen and on the labium ("lower lip"). That's why they are also called polyester bees. In Germany we call them silk bees "Seidenbienen".

🌱🎶🐝🕳️ 🐝🕳️ 🐝🕳️🎶🌱🌞

They live solitary in colonies, in sunny locations with no or sparse vegetation, where they dig their holes. Each species of plasterer bees specializes in the pollen of a particular plant, as does the ivy bee.

🗺️🐝🌐🐝📈

The distribution area of ​​the ivy bees in Germany is concentrated in the Upper Rhine Plain and the Middle Rhine (where these photos were taken) as well as the Moselle Valley. However, since 2006 there has been a major wave of spread. The bees have also developed a novel preference for kindergarten sandboxes.

✨🐝💕

They are peaceful animals who were not disturbed at all by my presence. The females have a very weak stinger, which they only use in extreme danger. There are no known allergic reactions.

🐝🐝🐝

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European garden spider (Araneus diadematus) 🕷️💕

Every year, an adult female garden spider builds her web in this preferred spot. The mating season begins at the beginning of August.

Sexually mature females secrete a substance whose smell attracts males.

However, the guys only notice the smell when they are up close. Therefore, the males themselves have to be good at finding and reaching promising places as well.

Garden spiders live for two years. Sexual maturity begins in the second year. The males die after mating, the females some time after laying their eggs (September-October).

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In contrast to most other tachinid flies, the larvae of the bug fly (Phasia hemiptera) do not parasitize on caterpillars but on stink bugs.

The male is easily identified by the wings with iridescent blue-black spots.

Beautiful! 🥰

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