Yesterday I discovered what I thought was a beehive on the stonework of the garage which is not attached to the house (fortunately). After lots of looking up on the internet and in my nature book I decided that they are vulgar wasps(Vespula Vulgaris). This doesn’t mean that they swear (as J-M told Dom when we were on the phone earlier – doesn’t he fit into our family humor well?), it means that they are common. They are small and cute, but not to be underestimated.
Normally they will die when autumn comes and the young queens will fly off to found more hives in little nooks and crannies next year.
Tomorrow I’ll have to phone someone to come and destroy them, for the sake of the neighbourhood.
Not very clear, taken with my phone
4 comments:
A friend who was living in an ancient cottage just along the road contacted his landlord because of a buzzing in the attic which was sealed off. Pest control found the bike was 8 feet long and about a cubic metre in size!
Hardly seen a wasp this year...
Wasps are icky. There have been quite a few lately hanging out in the backyard enjoying the weeds. Actually, they may be yellow jackets or hornets. I am not sure.
I always wondered what the evolutionary purpose of wasps was as well. They seemed to annoy and sting and that was about it. Apparently, Paper Wasps, the common ones here in Canada, eat caterpillars and spiders. I'm okay with that. I try to only remove nest which come in direct conflict with our outdoor activity. I certainly wouldn't want any inside the house either.
Caroline: I don't know how big mine was. They are stone walls and pretty thick so ot could have spread out quite a bit.
PM: They seemed okay to me at first because they were small wasps, I thought that they were bees. I know that they serve some purpose - I'll let you know when i think of something.
Stefani: There seem to be quite a few stripy creatures around
Isobel: I was worried about the neighbour's children, otherwise I would probably have left them. They would die in the autumn anyway.
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