Things I wouldn't expect to find in England

[Vendayn]

So my vacation to England last year during spring I found a few surprising insects that I didn't expect to find.

I found a wasp floating in the river near my Grandparents house where they used to live at before they moved a few months ago (Shropshire I think its spelled, near Wales). I found a Very pretty wasp, it was black and red, fuzzy and when I got it out of the river onto the bank I watched it and when I moved she would face towards me and just watch me. Luckily I was never attacked I never had an insect watch me before, so that was interesting.

On my Aunt's farm I was looking around for ants and saw a termite queen crawling very fast looking for a place to nest. I didn't know England had termites because its so cold, so this was surprising too.

Unexpected things you find

[Wood~Ant]

We don't have any termites in Britain Vendayn, so I'm not sure what you saw and mistook for one

It is Shropshire, which is one of the old county "Shires" on the border with Wales. Lovely country up around there too

The wasp may have been Chrysis viridula (Ruby-tail Wasp), or it may even have been the Ammophila sabulosa (Red-banded Sand Wasp).
The other possibility may be Bombus lapidarius (Red-tailed Bumblebee).

Surprisingly, for such a small island, we do have great diversity in our wildlife and habitats

[Vendayn]

None of those wasps looked liked what I saw. Since its been awhile I forgot most of what it looked liked. All I remember is it was about half an inch long to about a third of an inch long, part of its body was very black and the other part was bright red and was very fuzzy.

And what I believe was a termite was very fast and had a body of a termite but looked more hard and wasn't white. I am not sure what it was, it looked like a grub but moved too fast to be one and was too hard looking.

[nimbus]

What this what you had seen

all the best

Heath

[Vendayn]

no, it was very fuzzy all over and not shiny. Plus half of its body was red and the other was black, not a bluish color but black like a black crayon

I forgot an important thing, the wings weren't transparent, the wings this insect had was black also just like the black part of its body (although not fuzzy of course), couldn't see through them at all.

I think it had pinchers too, but I can't remember if it did or not.

[doctorant]

Sounds like a male velvet ant, a type of solitary wasp (Mutillidae) in which only males are winged.

As for your "termite", my guess would be a small rove beetle (Staphylinidae).

[Vendayn]

Doctorant, both those are correct. Thanks. Wow, Velvet ants in England are huge. The ones I've seen where I live are like Harvester ant size.