From Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award 2023- The People's Choice Award
One of the nominees
'....Near Montpellier, France, a cuckoo wasp is captured mid-air trying to enter a mason bee’s clay burrow as a smaller cuckoo wasp cleans its wings below.
Frank set up near the mason bee’s burrow hoping to photograph the rare cuckoo wasp that parasitises these bees. He was in luck, when not one but two cuckoo wasps appeared. While Frank was taking some shots, the larger cuckoo wasp flew off, returning seconds later with a drop of water at its mouth. The wasp uses water and saliva to soften the clay so it can dig into the bee’s sealed-up burrow. Once inside it lays its own egg, then closes the burrow up again. When the cuckoo wasp’s egg hatches, it feeds on mason bee larvae inside the burrow.'
