Author Koh Lin â—¦

Another day at work… and after a windy night, I had just finished my morning task of pool maintenance. I had taken the pool cleaner out and there was not one leaf in the pool, or floating on the surface. The water looked crystal clear.

I just happened to walk back into the pool area, when something floating on the water caught my attention. It looked like a bug of some sort. Now I am a bit short-sighted, so I had to squint, although it did look like a big bug with black wings folded over it’s back. It was struggling in the water. I quickly ran off to get the long pole leaf skimmer.

Stretching out, with the pole in hand, I managed to scoop the bug out of the water.

I quickly went over to the pool side bench and carefully uncovered the bug… it was scared and scurried into the fold of the skimmer net. Carefully pulling the netting back, I got really excited… I had rescued a gorgeous Yellow-hairy Flower Wasp!

Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula), Alice Springs NT
Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula), Alice Springs NT

The wasp looked exhausted and scared… it still kept trying to crawl into the fold of the net. I did not want the net to damage its wings, so I kept pulling the net back.

The wasp must have realised that I was not a threat as it stopped trying to hide in the fold of the net. In fact it was crawling on the fold towards me. I let it sit for a few minutes, whilst I got out my trusty mobile… click click click…

I left the wasp for half an hour to dry out a little, coming back now and again for a few photos. I then moved it to a rose bush in the garden, to be in the sun. I gently manoeuvred it on to the leaf of the bush, where it clung on tight.

Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula), Alice Springs NT
Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula), Alice Springs NT

Sunning itself on the leaf, the wasp should warm up and dry out, I thought to myself. Having left it for five minutes I came back, but it had gone…

Another life saved… now what do I do with that pink unicorn… it does look lost… 😀

Pink Unicorn, Alice Springs NT

More info on the wasps: Insects > Wasps > Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp