# Some time in the past in nature I saw **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2020, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-time-in-the-past-in-nature-i-saw/917237 "2020-08-04T10:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-time-in-the-past-in-nature-i-saw/917237/1 "2020-08-04T10:50:17Z")
As a complement to [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/72) thread and not to hijack it, here’s a thread for some of your favorite nature observations that weren’t from today. Here is a Great Golden ground wasp in my yard in 2007. A parasitic ground-nesting solitary wasp, she was endlessly and obsessively tending her patch of ground. [[Album] Great golden ground digger wasp ![](https://i.imgur.com/vV7soqo.jpeg?fb "Great golden ground digger wasp") ](https://imgur.com/a/aiU7SAu) The 2001 model Sony DSC F707 prosumer camera I was using took beautiful photos but–not unusual for the time–video was limited to 320x240 15 second clips. Today I have been working with trying to squeeze the best from the clips that I have. The video quality is awful and I completely wish I had it in full HD, but the action and especially the hilarious surprise ending make it worth keeping anyway. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yuVse9t3X7U/hqdefault.jpg "Great Golden Digger wasp") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVse9t3X7U) ([A couple](http://www.countingmychickens.com/great-golden-digger-wasp-the-hardest-working-bug-in-the-garden/) [of links](https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Great-Golden-Digger-Wasp) on the GGDW.) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-time-in-the-past-in-nature-i-saw/917237/2 "2020-08-04T20:15:40Z")
I don’t have any photos but… here’s a two parter. A couple of decades plus change ago, I went on an organised trip to a site in the Thames Valley to see [Military Orchids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchis_militaris). The draw was rarity, pure and simple - the site was one of only two in the UK where the military orchid grows. We were all very reverent and took photos - as you can imagine it was a somewhat geeky event. As we were being ushered away from the site, a man of about my (then) age sidled up to me and said, out of the corner of his mouth: _Psst - wanna see a red kite?_ Me: _What?_ Him: _Wanna see a red kite? - the perfect flying killing machine. Site’s not far._ Me: _Er, that’s terribly kind of you, but I’m on a tight schedule…_ I can be geeky, but I have my limits. Anyway, the point is this was shortly after the red kite, [which had been extinct in England, had been re-introduced](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/20/red-kites-thriving-in-england-30-years-after-reintroduction). It has been a spectacular success story - I see them pretty frequently, here south of London. So: two years ago, around this time of year, I went out on the bike off-road, and in the middle of nowhere I happened across a farmer cutting hay in a field. You know that old trope about seagulls following a trawler? There were five read kites following the tractor, swooping to see what the hay-cutting was going to scare-up for them. Several times they flew within six feet of me as I watched. Astonishing. The perfect flying killing machine? Maybe they are - it was an unforgettable experience. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJHJe9EVFKs) a video I found of something vaguely similar. j ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-time-in-the-past-in-nature-i-saw/917237/3 "2020-08-22T11:10:37Z")
_It’s a cork screw willow, Dr. Schick._ ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-time-in-the-past-in-nature-i-saw/917237/4 "2020-08-22T13:52:44Z")
We get moose in our yard a lot. This guy was a frequent visitor. He’s eating grass in front of our fire pit about 40 feet from our deck on the front of the house. They look docile enough. But there’s a reason for that. They aren’t afraid of anything. I always take a quick look around when I go outside, don’t want to spook one. Huh. Can’t attach picture. “Can’t embed media items in post” It’s gotta be a url? Not a picture from my machine?