Wasp nest

How quickly the seasons change! Last week, we were in hot summer; this week, it's fall. It stopped raining briefly this afternoon, and I went back to Tyee Spit to look for a tiny plant I'm trying to identify. There were flowers last week. This week, there are seed pods.

Pushing through the shrubbery, I came upon this wasp nest.

Water-resistant paper and dying leaves.

The wasp nest is built from top to bottom, with cells for the developing larvae pointing downward, and the exit somewhere towards the bottom. In this one, I noticed the change in pattern; the centre top is built around twigs from the bushes, then the cells are added in rounded lumps. As the builders worked towards the bottom, they switched to a regular, layered style, working around a couple more twigs.

Zooming in to show the textures.

There was no sign of wasps, though I rustled the bushes quite a bit, breaking off dead branches to get through to the nest. There may still be a few alive inside, but they'll die with the first hard freeze.

We are here.