What IS it???

  Walking thru the meadow in a drizzly rain, I happened upon an unusual site.

 Past the "Travelers Joy", a marvelous wild Clematis that has made a natural hedge all along the goat fence,

,

 and through the last of the Queen Annes Lace,

 and the wild morning Glories upon the ground..

 

Where Wild Black Eyed Susan have self seeded  in abundance,

                         Beneath the towering Joe Pye Weed                    

 I stumbled upon this interesting object:

 

 It is almost perfectly shaped like a BEE SKEP with a symmetrical round body, a flat bottom and a pointed top, around 15 inches tall.

There were little buzzing bodies circling round and round. I could not identify them as either bees or wasps but I kept my distance. I wish I could have taken a more crisp picture. The "BEES OR WASPS" OR HORNETS" ? have thick black bodies with yellow stripes. The nest's material looks similar to those paper nests you see hanging from trees made by wasps, but those are generally misshapen blobs, while this is nearly perfect. I could see the round entry way down along the bottom of the "SKEP" with dozens of tiny creatures going to and fro.

Have you ever seen such an object as this? It is the body of this nest that makes it truly wonderful. If you nature lovers can identify this nest and it's inhabitants, please let me know.

  I hope they will vacate the premises in the winter so that I can have this for my "collection" of old used houses.....