Wasp/Bee type thing ID needed, please

[briar rose]

I've been trying to get a picture of this chap for a couple of weeks, but he has always been in the garden when I don't have my camera, and by the time I've gone and got it, he's gone but today, I stuck with it, and although it took about an hour or so I got a few pics, but now I have he looks even odder than I imagained, can anyone tell me what he is please Thank You



Sorry about the poor quality of the pic

[haematocephalus]

It's an ichneumon wasp, probably one of the many species that parasitises moth caterpillars.

Martin


Martin Harvey

[briar rose]

Thanks Martin

Aww, I was quite exited about him, but now I'm feeling upset by him, I love Moths, and last year I had 3 Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillars in the bit of the garden I let go wild, maybe if I talk nicely to him, he'll go away

[haematocephalus]

Elephant hawks are nasty predators if you're a fuchsia or willowherb everything eats something it's all part of nature/biodiversity/the ecosystem

Martin

[briar rose]

Thanks Martin,

Yea I know everything eats something, but I always think parasites have it easy, but I guess it's there way of survival and I suppose they have their predators as well, so what goes around comes around

As for the Elephant Hawk Moth, thank you for the heads up on that about Fushias, last year the 3 caterpillars I had were feeding on Willowherb, but I have a lone fushia that my dad originaly grew, and I'm doing everything I can to keep it alive and have succeeded up to know, my dad passed away in '99, and he loved his Fushia, so it means a lot to me

[naturegirl]

It sounds as though your dad's fuschia is a perrenial one so it should be ok. I had 3 very large, juicy annual fuschias in a trough which elephant hawk moth caterpillers demolished one year. The thing is, annuals will die off anyway and the caterpillers had a good start in life.

They are so large that it is easy to remove them and relocate somewhere else.

The other thing to do is take some cuttings of your dad's fuschia so you will always have it.

Naturegirl

[briar rose]

Thank you naturegirl

While I like caterpillars, I'm not sure I could pick one up

My dads fushia is a hardy one, it's really pretty though semi-double white with red outside petals, he grew it originaly as a standard but it got snapped off one year, so he just kept it as a bush, but yes I really must take some cuttings this year as each year it seems to get smaller and smaller, and less sturdy, but then it is probably at least 10 years old, he used to grow nearly 100 different varieties at one time, and while I share his pasion for them, I don't have the room

[Dogghound]

Its Diphyus amatorius and it specializes on moth larvae from the Noctuidae family. Although the adult feeds on nectar