Wasp

[Paupertas]

Just had one fly into my study. Never seen one this early. Surprising after all the cold weather.

I'm quite tolerent with insects and wildlife but not wasps.

Duly dispatched with rolled up newspaper.

[ReformedCharacter]

Just had one fly into my study. Never seen one this early. Surprising after all the cold weather.

I'm quite tolerent with insects and wildlife but not wasps.

Duly dispatched with rolled up newspaper.

Quite possibly a queen wasp that has emerged from hibernation, they are generally a little longer than the workers. I saw a couple last month, possibly disturbed by me moving logs which they tend to favour as a suitable place for hibernation.

RC

[Arborbridge]

Just had one fly into my study. Never seen one this early. Surprising after all the cold weather.

I'm quite tolerent with insects and wildlife but not wasps.

Duly dispatched with rolled up newspaper.

That's a shame. They are useful creatures and do no harm and with such smart livery. I quite like them and have no objection to sharing some food with them outside in summer - they don't eat much.

I'd agree - nesting in the house might be extending friendship too far.
Arb.

[Paupertas]

That's a shame. They are useful creatures and do no harm and with such smart livery. I quite like them and have no objection to sharing some food with them outside in summer - they don't eat much

We live on the edge of the countryside and have a south facing wildlife garden with ponds and a cascade. Ideal for wasps apparently. We have had nests in the roof and inside the brickwork where there was a small gap in the concrete. We are lucky to get through the summer without one or other of us getting stung. One year we even had a cat stung.

Once we head a noise from the bathroom extractor fan and had an electrician round to fix what we thought was a faulty fan. Turned out the noise was from a wasp's nest inside the fan - the electrician's face was a picture.

There are miles of woodlands around our house - they can stay out there. Any other 'visitors' can expect the same welcome.

[dspp]

Just had one fly into my study. Never seen one this early. Surprising after all the cold weather.

I'm quite tolerent with insects and wildlife but not wasps.

Duly dispatched with rolled up newspaper.

One at lunch here as well. Now outside, alive.

regards, dspp

[Breelander]

...I'm quite tolerent with insects and wildlife but not wasps...

I used to hate wasps too. I revised my opinion of them when I saw them methodically removing blackfly from my cherry tree. While the adult wasp mostly feeds on nectar or rotting fruit, their grubs are carnivorous and need the protein.

[Paupertas]

I used to hate wasps too. I revised my opinion of them when I saw them methodically removing blackfly from my cherry tree. While the adult wasp mostly feeds on nectar or rotting fruit, their grubs are carnivorous and need the protein.

When the weather is nice we spend a lot of time in what we call our summerhouse, a nice sheltered open wooden hut in between two ponds. Mrs P went down there one day and was attacked by wasps from a nearby nest. She was stung twice in the face and once in the neck. Looked quite nasty.

The man who came to clear the nest said that there was a lot of rotting fruit in our garden for the wasps to 'get drunk' on and this made them rather more vicious than usual. He also said that there were very different types of wasps (German wasps?) which were rather nasty.

Apparently there were hundreds of billions of wasps in the UK alone, so I'm quite happy to whack the odd one that crosses my path rather than risk getting stung.

I spoke to one of the men who do the 'heavy lifting' in the garden and he's seen a few wasps already. He also mentioned that the frogs would become active in the next couple of weeks. Signs of spring at last.

[bungeejumper]

I used to hate wasps too. I revised my opinion of them when I saw them methodically removing blackfly from my cherry tree. While the adult wasp mostly feeds on nectar or rotting fruit, their grubs are carnivorous and need the protein.

Wasp NIMBY here. Wasps are very welcome to use any place where I don't go. That means that they need to stay right out of my loft, where it gets a bit tiresome being buzz-bombed every time I turn on the light. And they won't get a good reception along our garden paths, where they sometimes build their nests dangling from the bushes where our granddaughter likes to ride her bike. And it would be really excellent if they wouldn't hide in our ripening plums while they get over their autumnal hangovers. I've been stung too many times while picking fruit. .

A single wasp's sting killed somebody who I used to know. It flew into his ear at the local village fete, and half an hour later he was dead from the anaphylactic shock. Apart from that, though, wasps do have their considerate side. All except the queens die in October, which is kind of them.

BJ