One of the myriad types of Ichneumon flies. The 'sting; is actually its ovipositor which is what it uses to lay its eggs. As you rightly surmised it is in the wasp family.
Thanks @Obelixx@Berghill, youre both right by the look of it, seems to be a Ichneumon fly/Sabre wasp. Classified as a bee/wasp. She lays her eggs in wood wasps in rotting logs in America, and they presume the same here, which would make sense as she was exploring all the rotten wood around our pond. https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/09/16/sabre-wasp-giant-ichneumon-from-uk/
@Fire the body was just black, but found photos of it online, seems to be some uncertainty as its exact name but its one of the Ihneumans as Berghill said. Will have to watch spring watch, got it recorded but missed it yesterday
Interesting reading about them, they think they must have an incredible sense of smell to detect beetle/wasp larvae deep inside rotting wood. Just been out to see if she is still there and noticed the log next to the one she was on is obviously inhabited with some kind of boring insect (wood boring that is, I’m sure they are fascinating too)
I was presuming something else has created the sawdust rather than her (although its very fresh so maybe not), and the smell has brought her to it, the holes are much bigger than her ovipositor
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