Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 10 Nov 2023

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Leijpark013 French field wasp

Written by Thierry P. Dinjens ·

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There are animals in the Leijpark that come from elsewhere, but that we do not call them “exotics”. These animals were not introduced by humans, but came this way on their own. They have increased their habitat themselves. An example of such a traveler is the French field wasp. Originally from France, this should come as no surprise, but due to the increasingly warmer weather, she has moved more and more to the North, so it is now found in our country.
The French field wasp is a sweetheart compared to other yellow-black wasps. Her appearance is also substantially different, although we have to take a closer look at that. The 'normal' wasps that come to bother us when we sit outside with a glass of lemonade are yellow wasps that have black stripes. The French field wasp, for its part, is a black wasp with yellow stripes. Of course, this difference is barely visible in the free field, but there are other features. The French field wasp flies with hanging legs. Other wasps pull in their legs during the flight, but the French field wasp lets them hang. And: their antennae are orange, while other wasps have completely black antennae, but we can imagine that you won't want to see this wasp up close either.
The remarkable thing about the French field wasp is the fact that, like many other wasps, it does not build one nest. She builds a number of small nests close to each other. And that can be just about anywhere: at the gutter, in the back of a vegetable greenhouse, under the armrest of a garden chair, in the umbrella, you can't imagine it. The nests of the French field wasp are also open. The cells in which the larvae live and are fed by the workers are open. So we can just watch and see the development of the would-be wasps.
The rank of wasps, including the French field wasp, consists of a queen, workers (females) and drones (males). A number of queens are working to build all those small nests and once finished, one queen stands up as the boss. The other queens will not be killed or expelled, but they will act like workers. They hunt for flies and mosquitoes that they feed to the larvae. All these larvae come from eggs that the chief queen has laid in all usable nests.
The French field wasp and humans have few encounters with each other and this wasp will hardly be oppressed, causing it to sting. She can hear it, with her smooth sting she can sting several times, but this is rare. In the Leijpark, the French field wasp finds plenty of places, for example high in the trees, to make nests and stay away from visitors to the park. We will occasionally see one fly, but that's all.
The French field wasp will most likely no longer leave our country, but that's not necessary at all. There are plenty of prey and nesting facilities for her here. And we welcome the fact that she scares away tricky flies and mosquitoes. Every ally who comes to help us combat these troublemakers has, in our opinion: an advantage.



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