Wasps

Wasps are members of the order Hymenoptera (skin wings) and come in many types and sizes. Their social organizations range from cooperative fertile females paper wasps to the caste system of yellow jackets, in which there is a single fertile queen and a large population of smaller unmated females. Due to their size and colouration these wasps are often mistaken for bees. Bees are not nearly as aggressive and are valued as major pollinators as well as honey producers.
Wasps, yellowjackets and hornets have a lance-like stinger without barbs and can sting repeatedly. They should be brushed off the victim's skin promptly with deliberate movements, then quietly and immediately leave the area.

Scientific name: Uroceras gigas. Parasite of Larch trees.

Body length: 30mm.

Flight period: May - August.

The large size and black and yellow colouration mean that this 'wasp' causes more than a few scares, but it is not a wasp at all, it is a sawfly and completely harmless. The large 'sting' is in fact the ovipositor, which is used to lay eggs (and gives it the alternative name of horntail). Most often seen in coniferous woodland.

Common in Staffordshire and Isle of Wight.