Orkney Image Library

Wasp

This little wasp visited me the other day. The cotton-wool-like material it's walking on is in fact a sheet of ordinary kitchen-roll, which happened to be on my draining-board. This gives an idea of the insect's size: barely a quarter of an inch long, not including the antennae and ovipositor. It's one of the many species of parasitic wasps that use their needle-like ovpositors to insert eggs into the tissues of other insects or plants. My guess would be that this one is parasitic on caterpillars. What attracted it into my house I've no idea.