The grasslands of the nature reserves in Empel and Hedel are sparingly grazed by small herds of cattle that leave most of the flowering plants intact.
This type of nature management provides a diverse and rich habitat for scores of insects like wasps. 
Most people only know the Common wasp and some even know the German wasp, but actually there are about six thousand species of wasps in the Netherlands, most of them are pretty small and go unnoticed.

Members of the large and very old sawfly family are present, notably thePale sawfly and the Green sawfly.

Other wasp you can find here are the Yellow-striped Darwin wasp, Square headed wasp and the Field digger wasp.

Not to be missed is the European hornet, patrolling busily among the flowers for pray such as flies and bees. They sometimes attack each other! Generally they are not aggressive but you better stay away from their nests.

The photos are from 2022 onwards.