Polistes dominula: Nature’s Smallest Home Renovators
An experiment in macro photography, insect architecture, and mild backyard paranoia.
In one of the rare moments where my camera’s macro setting actually did more or less what it was supposed to, I managed to capture a small crew of wasps, four or five of them, suspiciously obsessed with our wooden trellis one morning. I can only assume they were either planning some home renovations or staging a tiny, hostile takeover.
These little buzzers are Polistes dominula, more commonly known as European paper wasps. As the name suggests, they hail from Europe, but like many other creatures, they’ve since branched out and made themselves at home around much of the world.
Compared to their more temperamental relatives (yes, yellow-jackets, I’m looking at you), they tend to be fairly chill, unless you mess with their nest, in which case all bets are off.
Your Trellis May Be at Risk
European paper wasps are the architects behind those open, papery nests you often find tucked into inconvenient corners you didn’t even know needed defending.
Fun fact: they chew wood fibres into a kind of DIY pulp to build their homes. So if your trellis suddenly seems like it’s being delicately sanded by tiny winged contractors, now you know why.
If you hear faint buzzing and notice your garden fixtures mysteriously eroding, don’t panic. Just assume you’re now part of an unpermitted insect zoning experiment.
Meanwhile, on iNaturalist...
In a burst of enthusiasm (or perhaps temporary madness), I recently joined iNaturalist, (not a nudist colony, despite what the name suggests), and started documenting the birds, bugs, and plants I come across during my occasional, highly ambitious strolls around the neighbourhood.
These outings are rare, mostly because I’m 70 years old and lazy and my couch is very persuasive.
But still, progress is being made. Wasps have been photographed. Trees have been misidentified. Blurry bugs have been uploaded in what I like to call “impressionist entomology.”
Jokes aside, the iNaturalist link takes you to my “observations” page, where you’ll find the photos I’ve taken during my rare strolls through the woods (and occasionally my apartment’s terrace). I highly recommend iNaturalist to anyone with even a mild interest in flora and fauna, it’s completely free and surprisingly fun.
It also conveniently justifies the fact that I stop every two minutes to take photos of blades of grass, partly out of curiosity, and partly because I’m out of breath.
What to Expect from Me (and this section of the blog)
Brace yourselves: over the coming months, I’ll likely be sharing an ever-growing collection of:
- Dandelions
- Blurry bugs
- The same tree photographed from six slightly different angles
- Questionable attempts at identifying anything with wings
It may not be National Geographic, but it’s earnest, curious, and occasionally in focus.
All photos in this post taken with a camera that only cooperates under threat of being replaced by a phone.