Here's a picture of our patio after all the Episyron rufipes activity.

I've also added photos of both the prey spiders I collected - both paralyzed and not dead. I've examined them under the microscope and confirmed that they are both Nuctenea umbratica. I've euthanised them so they don't have a drawn-out death.

The wasps I spotted on Thursday excavating a nest in the sand between our paving stones have been busy today. I found another spider on the patio, the same species as on Thursday, Nuctenea umbratica, with one of the wasps frantically attempting to dig a hole big enough to accommodate it. It gave up again, but we now have holes all around our patio (some of them must have been successfully completed). I watched one of the wasps for a while and it kept returning to a particular plant on some steps - which must be where the spiders are being found. Having taken these new photos, I've identified the wasps as Episyron rufipes.

I spent the morning picking plums from our plum tree. It's been yet another bumper year - probably the best ever. I managed to disturb this Oak Bush Cricket from the plum tree - it's a rarely seen but common species as it lives at the top of trees.

On our patio, I noticed a small wasp digging frantically in the sand between the paving. Nearby was a large spider (much bigger than the wasp). It looks like the wasp had paralyzed the spider and was trying to put him in a sand burrow with an egg. Unfortunately, our paving is too close together to fit such a burrow and the wasp eventually flew off leaving the spider for me to collect. I'll aim to stick it under the microscope to confirm its ID. When I get time, I'll also upload a video of the wasp digging.

I managed to get the moth trap out in the evening. I had one new species, a square-spotted clay. To be honest, I'd never have got an ID on such a worn specimen, but AI managed to ID it with 100% certainty. Also in the trap were a couple more box-tree moths (second generation?), one of which was the rarer melanic dark form.