Paint by Wasp

2/4/12

Thankfully the good weather of the previous day has allowed us to start some actual work this morning. We were out in the fields at dawn this morning collecting some of our marked nests. We use a highly skilled method to collect wasps:

1) Wear a pair of attractively coloured rubber gloves

2) Place a sieve underneath the nest

3) Poke the wasps with a pair of forceps until they fall into the nest 

4) Place them in a tube

Once collected we returned apartment to paint mark the wasps. Each individual receives four highly attractive dots on its back in order to identify it for future observations. The painted and agitated wasps they get placed back in their tubes and transported back to their home where they are released and we hope they are able to navigate back to their nests - this we will find out tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Off for a sit on the beach in the sunshine now!

Also if anyone knows what this little creature is would love to know!

Days without stings: 6