Wasps' nests - amazing things!

No wind!!  Here on the edge of the West Pennine Moors it's a rare occurence to have a calm day - whatever the time of year.  Today is one of them.  Beautiful!

At 2pm the temperature out of the sun is 6 C

Still no frogs but the garden is all a flutter with the sight and sound of birds and we have blue-tits and great-tits already taking an interest in the various nest boxes. 

Last year two of our bird boxes provided shelter for nests of a different kind - wasps!  One of these was just a few yards from my back door and it gave me the chance to watch them more closely.  I began by leaving my tripod a few yards from the nestbox and each day I gradually moved my tripod and camera closer until I was no more than a couple of feet away.  They appeared quite happy with this arrangement and left me alone.  Besides,  I think they were on too much of a mission to be interested in me!  

There was always one wasp 'on duty'.  I presume this was the lookout and it would sit outside the entrance, constantly vibrating its wings.  After a while it would fly into or away from the nest box and another wasp would take its place.  If anyone knows more about this behaviour, please add to this thread.  

The only time I felt uneasy was late one evening.  It was well after midnight  and I had a moth lamp in the garden to attract these beautiful night time visitors - the best moths seem to arrive after 1am!   Unfortunately it also seemed to attract the wasps: either they thought daytime had come early or they were checking out the night-time intruder - me!  A couple of scouts came to investigate.  At this point I had visions of the whole colony waking up so I made a hasty retreat indoors!

Curiously, after a few weeks both nests suddenly stopped being active and all the wasps disappeared.  I've heard that if the queen dies all the wasps leave.  If that's the case, it seems strange that it should happen to each nest.  Anyone know ...  ??

On the good side, the grubs have provided welcome food for the blue tits during the winter months.

If this warmer weather continues I would expect the frogs to return any day - or more likely any night!

Ttfn  A :0)