yes.. now that i think about it that was a rather large P. fuscatus... do you have V. germanica where you live? i am interested to find out that thier natural enemy is V. crabro... there were no V. crabro at this feeding area, and the germanica never came into contact with any.

hey vulgarias you were right it is this species :)

is one of the commonest social wasps in my region of the Lake of Geneva, second only to the Paper Wasp P. dominula. Despite its name, the "common" V. vulgaris comes only in third rank at lower altitude, followed by Vespa crabro.
Of course, that is another matter in the very near Jura Mountains, above roughly 3000 feet, where mixed beech/fir-tree forests dominate. There, V. vulgaris is indeed the commonest, mainly because none of the three others exists (too cold a climate for them).