Wasp Nest

A couple of years ago we noticed wasps nesting in our 'spare' birdbox, the one the bluetits never use; Mr Flum cleaned it out at the end of the season. Then last summer they were at it again, buzzing in and out after a session of rasping at the side of the shed for building materials, leaving pale one-inch streaks of unseasoned wood, coming and going no matter how close our camera lenses came.

As the shed has to be moved Mr Flum took down the box and removed the top and front to expose the nest. It was built right up to the roof and well below the entrance hole.
 
And isn't it a wonder? All those carefully overlapped layers of delicate, wafer-thin papier maché, streaked in the colours of the source material (grey from the shed, red from the clothes prop or the birdtable, green from someone's fence, perhaps). Such a fine example of teamwork.