What To Do About Wasps?
During the summer months, you probably enjoy nothing more than eating outside- be it going for a picnic, having a BBQ, or just dining alfresco in your garden. However, we doubt that you would want to share that time and space with all of mother nature’s wonderful insects, especially not wasps! Not only are they aggravating but can also be pretty dangerous if a swarm stings you.
In the UK there are many different species of wasps, but you are most likely to encounter the common wasp or German wasp. Both are similar in size and colouring, bright yellow with black markings with 6 yellow legs. Their bodies tend to look smooth and shiny.
The queen will begin laying eggs in April/May and will continue to do so until the warm summer weather begins to change. Wasps struggle to survive in the colder months and will go into hibernation. Those that do survive begin the cycle of building a small nest at the beginning of Spring, which will grow and expand throughout the summer months. The first lot of eggs laid by the queen are workers, who are responsible for building and maintaining the nest. As the queen continues to lay eggs, the larvae must be fed. They typically feed on other small insects like caterpillars and aphids, brought to the colony by worker wasps. Adult wasps do not eat other insects but live off of nectar and other sugary secretions produced by the larvae.
Wasp nests can be found in a variety of locations in and around your home. Loft spaces, wall cavities, chimneys, sheds, garages, trees…just to name a few. If left undisturbed throughout the summer months, the colony can reach a considerable size, hundreds if not thousands of wasps!
Wasps are actually very important for our ecosystem…. although they are good pollinators, they are not a good as bees for that. They are, however, little pest controllers in their own right. The adult wasps will kill/immobilise prey like flies, spiders and other insects to feed to their larvae in the nest. Wasps are responsible for removing large amount of these other pests from our environment and we most certainly need them to continue what they do.
If a wasp colony has taken a liking to a location that you do not wish to share, then we strongly advise that you call for a professional to deal with your wasp nest problem. Wasps become very aggressive if they feel threatened or their nest is in danger and they will sting you repeatedly. Not only this, if they feel the danger is too great, they are able to signal to other wasps of this imminent danger and they will swarm you and you will be stung MANY times by multiple wasps. Some people have extremely adverse reactions to insect stings, and wasp stings are no exception. Under all circumstances, we really must advise calling us to deal with the problem. We have all the correct protective equipment, as well as the skills required to effectively deal with the problem!
