Selfsufficientish.com

It's certainly an Ichneumon wasp, but you can't id these from photographs: the 3000 or so species that we have in the British Isles converge on a small number of colour patterns, even across families. The only place these lay eggs is inside larvae of moths, butterflies and sawflies.

Yup....the Horse-Chestnut-specific micromoth Cameraria ohridella has been progressing northwards for a few years. Any parasitica haven't yet caught up with them, but when they do it will be the usual see-sawing act where either the host or the parasite is around in larger numbers at any one time. Th...

I'm with cobnut. Just because you want a bbq doesn't mean you have the right to kill wasps. All creatures have their niche in our ecosystem, and it's up to us to coexist with them. Decoy jam works, and I'll try the paper bag trick next time they want to break into my party.(btw, I'm often asked just...

The pulled up specimens are Himalayan Balsam - Impatiens glandulifera. Whoever pulled them up knew exactly what they were doing. This is an extremely invasive plant with no predators in UK/Ireland and should be removed as soon as it's found. If you don't remove it, it will take over, killing local s...

There are a few bumblebees with orange/red tails. Have a look at:

http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebees_id.htm

Yup, Scarlet Elf Cup - Sarcoscypha sp.

Supposed to be edible, but not worthwhile. Don't worry about getting ill by just touching a fungus - I regularly use taste and smell in addition to visual clues when identifying them.

Just saying hello. :salute: I live in Co. Donegal, Ireland and I try to be self-sufficient in vegetables. I also study wildlife fairly seriously (see http://www.donegal-wildlife.blogspot.com). My project for this year is to self-build a polytunnel about 20' x 15' or so. I do eat wild plants and fung...