I’ve found the first mud nest hidden under one of the sofa cushions in the garden. In previous years we’ve found lots of these. When smashed open they were single cell and full of tiny spiders so we, logically, assumed they were a spider’s nest. But they are in fact a type of wasp, the mud dauber, which lays its eggs in the 1in long mud nest and before sealing it up she leaves food – the paralyzed spiders – for the larvae to eat when they hatch.

These are solitary wasps, no workers to provide food so the Queen looks after her own larvae. They are supposedly non-aggressive, long and slender, shaped more like a fly than the fatter wasps we are familiar with it in the UK, but with the giveaway black and yellow banding on its abdomen.
5 to remember
la avispa – wasp
la araña – spider
el avispero – wasp nest
el barro – mud
escondido/a – hidden