Biomimicry - nesting

Yesterday's encounter with a wasp got me thinking about wasp and hornet nests. I found some beautiful images online* of some amazing structures:

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

 

and then I found this:

 

  

Click through to the los osos design project to see some more lovely creations inspired by nature.


* I seem to have misplaced the image source links (oops! sorry ...)

Food snatcher

This morning in our laundry I caught a little thief at work ...  a wasp landed on our cat's bowl and made off with a piece of dry cat food. It grasped the food between its legs and flew to the windowsill, where it proceeded to roll the piece of food around, stinging it repeatedly.

 

  

I've also seen several bees, wasps and butterflies drinking at our water bowls lately....

 

When I set the bowls out in our garden I hoped they might provide water for birds, but I hadn't thought about thirsty insects! I'm glad to be helping them out in this hot weather.

... and while we're on the subject of bugs, check out this little caterpillar's Spiderman impersonation!
 

(image sources: wasp drinking, caterpillar)