Busy as a...wasp

If Dunc's posts are distinctly dead-thing-related mine seem to be relentlessly insect-themed at the moment. Here's an update on the wasp's nest in our garden:

As you can see, the wasps have not only repaired the wind damage from a couple of months ago but also increased its size considerably. It's now the size of a rugby ball, and has incorporated a considerable part of the branch on which it hangs. They continue to layer it up with the wood/saliva paste they make, so that the inner chamber containing the grubs is now presumably very well protected - I would imagine the temperature is reasonably stable as well owing to the air between layers. As well as being a fascinating process, I think it is also strangely beautiful, with its almost alien protuberances and pits. As we go about the garden, they do not bother us, just quietly tending, gathering and building, yoked by undeniable, unspoken purpose.