No flies on this wasp impersonator – Letters

A photograph in our Picture Gallery got readers buzzing

This great image from regular contributor Tor Sodergren brought out a hive mind

The Scotsman’s Picture Gallery showcasing readers’ photography is always a delight. I was particularly impressed by the picture of the “wasp” on the purple poppy (16 June). However, the insect is in fact a hoverfly. The hoverfly exhibits Batesian mimicry, an evolutionary adaption to protect it from predators by resembling a nastier, unpalatable species, such as a wasp. The photographer was in no danger from the hoverfly as there is no sting in the tail.

David Muir, Findhorn Place, Edinburgh

Much less bovver?

Certain insects have evolved to mimic wasps as a deterrent to predators. I’m not an expert, but I believe that the insect stated to be a stinging wasp in Picture Gallery more closely resembles a harmless hoverfly. If so, this particular fly has succeeded in fooling both potential attackers and the photographer!

Jim Douglas, Rullion Road, Penicuik

Forest fruits

Tod Sodergren’s excellent photograph reminded me of the olden days when one could travel across Scotland to the Caledonian relict forest, sand dunes, hill tops and peat mosses to study hoverflies, a group of insects which is richly represented across the country.

But there was no need to worry about being stung; the insect in the picture was not a wasp but a wasp mimic, probably the hoverfly Syrphus vitripennis, a good insect because the adult pollinates and its larvae feast on aphids.

Hugh Pennington, Carlton Place, Aberdeen

Watch for the wings

It’s an easy mistake to make, since the colouring is so similar, and this works to the hoverfly’s advantage.

Any predator would avoid snapping up something which could give them a nasty sting, so hoverflies can safely forage for insects amongst our flowers.

A useful identifying feature is the wings: flies have one pair of wings, while most wasps have two pairs, larger front wings, and much smaller hind wings. Hoverflies also have smaller antennae.

Both species are good for gardeners, because they control what are deemed to be pests. Unfortunately for wasps, we place them in the second category, and that often seals their fate.

Carolyn Taylor, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Perfect pictures

With all the doom and gloom in all forms of the media, and no live football, what a pleasure it is to see the wonderful pictures in your Picture Gallery – they are stunning, keep them coming.

Since the lockdown one of my cousins who lives in England has been e-mailing me every day with pictures he and his wife have taken on their walks along the canal of ducks and ducklings, swans and cygnets, herons, and canal barges.

They are still keeping their eyes skinned for a kingfisher which has so far eluded them. The pictures are something I really appreciate, these small pleasures make life at this disastrous time more bearable.

And I really miss the cartoons that used to be published in The Scotsman, anyone who takes offence at them needs to get a life.

Margaret Wallace, Broomfield Avenue, Cumnock

Not so unknown

Re: the feature in yesterday’s Scotsman, “Film honours life of former slave who changed course of history”.

I welcome this innovation, of course, but am astonished by phrases such as “I’m not sure why his story isn’t better known”.

Have writer May Sumbwanyambe and actors Patrick Martins and Emma King never heard of James Robertson’s magnificent book, Joseph Knight? I can’t remember when this book was published but it wasn’t yesterday.

Not only does Robertson write beautifully, sympathetically, and without sentiment, about Joseph Knight; his description of the court case is unforgettable, written in Robertson’s mastery of the Scots language , a poignant reminder that it’s not so very long ago that Scots was the language of the literati. Surely this should have been an indispensable source.

Joyce Gunn Cairns, West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh

Uncage the zoo

As England moves forward and recognises the damage that is being done to so many businesses and individuals due to lockdown, Nicola Sturgeon is clinging to her control, her power and her self importance.

However, Scotland cannot afford to rest on its laurels, our economy is so precarious and our debt is now enormous!

Edinburgh Zoo should be open now, nothing will be achieved by waiting for another month apart from bankruptcy. What then happens to these wonderful animals? Wrong decisions are easy, it takes wisdom to make the right ones.

Pauline Eggermont, Drummond Place, Inverness

Figuring the facts

Douglas Cowe asks for clarification on Covid-19 death statistics (Letters, 16 June). The lower Public Health Scotland figure of 2,448 is the number of confirmed Covid deaths whereas the National Records of Scotland statistics are the number of confirmed plus suspected Covid-related deaths.

Similarly, UK government announcements of over 40,000 is merely based on the number of confirmed deaths but when suspected Covid deaths are added the figure is over 60,000 and the English figure remains almost 50 per cent higher than Scotland’s.

England’s seasonal excess mortality rates at almost three times higher than in Scotland underlines the fact that NHS Scotland is performing much better than their English counterparts and makes a nonsense of earlier claims that Scotland’s care home deaths were twice that of England’s.

Mary Thomas, Watson Crescent, Edinburgh

Woke is a joke

Do I detect the faint whiff of double standards, or, as we cynics call it, “hypocrisy” in the new world order as we are supposed to accept it?

It seems men who identify as women want to be allowed access to women’s loos as recognition of their “dignity” and to be able to change their birth certificates to identify as women when they are chromosomally men. Women who happen to have been born women are supposed to grin and bear it when these same men,some of them anatomically male, come into their private, female space because they want to be perceived as something they are not.

Similarly, the “woke” generation howl when actors black up (think Little Britain, The Black and White Minstrels etc), but hail Hamilton”, a stage show about an 18th-century white man acted by a cast which is largely Afro-American.

The same generation tear down statues of men who were benefactors of cities and institutions in Britain because of their association with the slave trade, but ignore China, which killed hundreds of 
students in Tiananmen Square protesting for freedom from oppression only 31 years ago.

In like fashion, they ignore both the Africans who first enslaved those they sold to the British slave-traders, thereby enriching their west African states and the very real continuation of slavery in a number of African nations today.

Peter Hopkins, Morningside Road, Edinburgh

Leading us astray

In 1815 at the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon is reputed to have said of the British army: “My God,what troops. If I had two such regiments I could conquer the world!”

Politicians are fond of drawing an analogy between the present Covid pandemic and wartime Britain.

The virus is the enemy, the lockdown the blackout and the NHS our armed forces.

The British public, as supporting reinforcements, are urged to pull together, fight the evil foe and deliver ultimate victory.

But, to extend the analogy further, in wartime the quality of leaders and their advisers is vitally important.

They are the generals and strategists in charge of operations and during the last war we were fortunate to have leaders of the calibre of Churchill with a committed coalition government, together with quality generals like Montgomery and Eisenhower to call on.

But for this war? Neither PM Boris Johnson, with his bluff and bluster approach, nor his adviser Dominic Cummings, with his flagrant disregard for self-discipline, show any kind of leadership.

And the latest Government climb-down over emergency school meals following 
a most undignified exchange of tweets between footballer Marcus Rashford and Work and Pensions 
Secretary Therese Coffey 
did nothing to improve the troops’ respect for the officer class.

Napoleon was right and to date in this war, the morale of the British troops has been shown to be in good order but I suspect this has been in spite of the quality of leadership displayed by the officers and not a product.

Robin Whike, Craigmount Park, Edinburgh

Wrong sentence

The offence committed by Andrew Banks of urinating next to the memorial to PC Keith Palmer was clearly a disgusting one, but did it merit the imposition of an immediate prison sentence?

It is well established that short prison sentences are unlikely to be in any way beneficial to the offender and usually a thorough nuisance to the prison authorities.

It is worthy of note that such a sentence would not have been competent in Scotland. Banks was a first offender, in Scotland a prison sentence cannot be imposed on such an offender without obtaining a social enquiry report.

Furthermore, it is reported that Banks had mental health problems. In Scotland this would almost certainly have caused the court to obtain a psychiatric report.

Agreat deal more might have been achieved by the imposition of a community based sentence which would possibly have been more successful than a prison sentence in making Banks realise the gravity of his offence and make it unlikely to be repeated.

Alastair L Stewart, Albany Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

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