I found two ichneumon wasps on neighbouring umbellifers at Cosmeston last week. Their identities haven’t yet been confirmed but I think I’ve got them right, and I’ll explain why in today’s post and tomorrow’s. Firstly, though, I must acknowledge my source for this – the Natural History Museum has an excellent downloadable pdf, Beginner’s guide to identifying British ichneumonids, which I always find very helpful when trying to identify these lovely wasps.

Firstly, I believe this is a female Amblyjoppa fuscipennis, which the guide describes as follows:

A large (16–25mm) and beautiful species with a black head. It has a black thorax with a small cream spot and a bright orange abdomen – quite broad and no other colours on it. Can be confused with Protichneumon pisorius, but where P. pisorius has black tips on the hind tibia and tarsus, these features on A. fuscipennis are entirely orange. Flies from June to August.