Yikes..... 'Colossal' wasp nest

[DaveHarries]

..... possigbly not good for anyone with a fear of the critters?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-37471529

A "colossal" wasp nest the size of a "barrel" with a tunnel attached has been found in the attic of a house.
The homeowner near Corby discovered the one-metre wide nest (3.2ft) while renovating the property, which had been empty for two years, as reported in the Northampton Chronicle.
Pest controller Gary Wilkinson said "luckily" the wasps had moved out about a year earlier.
Its size and long entry tunnel made it a "spectacular work of art", he added....

hock:hock:

I asked my cousin, who is a pest controller, how he would have dealt with this and his reply was "Simples, dust it and gone! £60, thank you" but rather him than me!

Dave

 

[cf111]

I think I'd have to burn my house down.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

When I bought my house 23 years ago, there was a ( fortunately also derelict ) nest that size in the attic, although rather than being in a ball shape it was a sprawling mass occupying one corner of the attic.

I think there's a zero missing from the population size estimate for the large nest, though.

 

[BanburyBlue]

With wasps you can kill them by leaving ant powder by the exits of their route into the big wide world. However have to be careful as they don't like being exterminated and like to fight back!!

I also believe they leave the nest every winter and don't return to the same place?

 

[DaleCooper]

Why does everyone dislike wasps, they are useful predators of invertebrate pests, they are pollinators and they have no reason to harm humans unless they are threatened by someone trying to swat them. I have many wasps nests in my loft but only get the occasional visitor in the house, when that happens I either open a door or window, switch off the lights and let them find their own way out or I catch them with a glass and piece of card and let them go outside. Wasps are fascinating and beautiful creatures, appreciate them don't kill them.

 

[tony_mac]

they have no reason to harm humans unless they are threatened by someone trying to swat them.

I can assure you that isn't always the case.

 

[DaleCooper]

I can assure you that isn't always the case.

Evidence? (No anecdotes)

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Why does everyone dislike wasps, they are useful predators of invertebrate pests,

Out of interest, could you be more specific? What pests do wasps eat?

they are pollinators

Now I'm confused. Isn't it bees that pollinate?

And a more general question for anyone who knows more about wildlife ... Building a nest of the size indicated in the BBC report quoted at the start of this thread seems a massive undertaking. Building it and then later abandoning it seems like a crazy waste of resources - not very sensible in survival/evolutionary terms. Anyone know why wasps would do that, and what benefit they'd gain from abandoning such a nest?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Now I'm confused. Isn't it bees that pollinate?

Bees, wasps, butterflies, flies - to some extent they all pollinate, although the bees are miles ahead of the others in efficiency.





This evening I saw a False Widow spider having a wasp for dinner...

 

[DaleCooper]

Out of interest, could you be more specific? What pests do wasps eat?

https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/common-wasp

What do wasps do?

Wasps eat flies, aphids, caterpillars and other invertebrates, making them an important insect-controlling predator.
Wasps are amazing architects, building hexagonal paper nests from chewed up wood.
Wasps are important pollinators.
Wasp nests provide a home for some of our most beautiful, pollinating hoverflies.

Now I'm confused. Isn't it bees that pollinate?

See above - many insects are pollinators including hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I know people that run away from wasps, dive when they see one etc. If one hovers near me, and I've had a few 'size me up' (when they face you and dance left/right) I just stand still, then they bugger off. Never had one just randomly sting me, I was always told year's ago when I was a kid, if you see a wasp, stand still, and it will go away.

Whether it's rubbish or not I dunno, but I've done that ever since and got away with it so far

 

[DaleCooper]

I know people that run away from wasps, dive when they see one etc. If one hovers near me, and I've had a few 'size me up' (when they face you and dance left/right) I just stand still, then they bugger off. Never had one just randomly sting me, I was always told year's ago when I was a kid, if you see a wasp, stand still, and it will go away.

Whether it's rubbish or not I dunno, but I've done that ever since and got away with it so far

It's probably good advice but also look at it from the wasp's point of view - it can't eat you and you're not one of it's natural enemies or competitors. In fact to a wasp you're probably no different from something else big like a tree and wasps don't go round stinging trees.

 

[Trog]

And a more general question for anyone who knows more about wildlife ... Building a nest of the size indicated in the BBC report quoted at the start of this thread seems a massive undertaking. Building it and then later abandoning it seems like a crazy waste of resources - not very sensible in survival/evolutionary terms. Anyone know why wasps would do that, and what benefit they'd gain from abandoning such a nest?

Only the Queen wasps survive the winter hibernating in hidden corners, when the Queens leave the nest in the autumn the workers all die as the cold weather starts and the organisation of the colony fails.

The following year the Queens look for new sites to nest, I suspect the advantages of this are that an old nest would be too large to defend in the early stages of a colonies growth, and that if a new colony used an old nest full of the bodies of the previous years inhabitants it would start the new year with all the pests and diseases the last colony had picked up over the course of the previous year.

 

[Elwyn]

I know people that run away from wasps, dive when they see one etc. If one hovers near me, and I've had a few 'size me up' (when they face you and dance left/right) I just stand still, then they bugger off. Never had one just randomly sting me, I was always told year's ago when I was a kid, if you see a wasp, stand still, and it will go away.

Whether it's rubbish or not I dunno, but I've done that ever since and got away with it so far

I keep bees and their behaviour is much the same as wasps. They won’t sting you unless you pose a threat or, in the case of bees are stealing their honey. They’ll take a look at you and when they decide you are neither a threat nor a food source, they’ll leave you alone. If they land on your hand they’ll walk across it and not sting you. Where people get stung is because they wave their hands about frantically and start slapping wildly. This naturally triggers defensive behaviour. The "stand still" behaviour is absolutely the correct response. They’ll normally go away. Of course if you have something with a food source, eg a pint of beer, they’ll follow you round for that.

Many bee keepers dispense with gloves when working with the hives. (It’s hard not to be clumsy with gloves on, and then you squash a few, which leads to them getting annoyed). Provided you are gentle and don’t kill any accidentally, most bee colonies will just let you work away without attacking you. Stinging you can be fatal for a bee and its not something they do lightly. A wasp’s sting is slightly different in that it can be replaced but the same principle applies, they only use it when they have to. Most bee keepers just get stung once or twice a year. These insects are not naturally aggressive to humans.

 

[DaleCooper]

I had a visit from one of the local wasps while I was shaving this morning, it came in through the open window and spent several minutes trying to find ts way out. It did not attack me or even "eye me up".

While we're on the subject don't mistake this for a wasp. It's a hoverfly, a completely harmless insect that is beneficial to gardeners as a pollinator and its larvae prey on aphids and other pests.