Loft Alien Intruders

[Gripper]

Just been up in the attic to put Xmas decorations back, spotted two weird "nest"? things hanging from the polystyrene insulation sheets between the wooden roof supports. Both were spherical, hanging down on a "stalk" about an inch long, dark grey in colour. One was the size of a cricket ball, the other half that size. My wife got two plastic bags and pulled them from their moorings. ( I got ready to run ). I intended to photo them and post a link , but they were very fragile- as if made of thin, dry felt-like material, and collapsed in on themselves very readily. They seemed empty and without any sign of former inhabitants. Any ideas as to what they were? I guess wasps nests but thought they would be bigger.

Neil

[James Varty]

Elves. You've had elves. Definately.

[John Cartmell]

Wasps nests can be golf ball size or less.

[Dave Fawthrop]

| > Just been up in the attic to put Xmas decorations back, spotted two = weird=20 | > "nest"? things hanging from the polystyrene insulation sheets between= the=20 | > wooden roof supports. | > Both were spherical, hanging down on a "stalk" about an inch long, = dark=20 | > grey in colour. | > One was the size of a cricket ball, the other half that size. |=20 | Elves. You've had elves. Definately.

Elves with black and yellow bodies? =20 Like any of these?

Fawthrop

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[Peter Crosland]

Wasp nest. A queen wasp has started a nest and not completed it for some reason. Most probably she met with an accident so the nest never got built any larger. Wasp nest do not get reoccupied the next year.

[Gripper]

"Gripper" wrote

Wasps it is then. Thanks for all the replies. Tomorrow is 'clear-the-attic-of-some-of-the-crap' day, so maybe more will turn up. We do seem to have had more than our fair share of the critters over the years, which is galling as I hate the b*****ds. Maybe they're like cats and instinctively know to go for the humanoids that are afraid of them. Thinking of cat-sized wasps now. Bugger. Need G & T bye Neil

[Set Square]

There'll almost certainly be a hibernating queen wasp inside each nest. They build these little chinese-lantern-like nests to hide in during the winter - and will emerge (unless you dispose of them in the meantime) in the spring, to start breeding again.

[Chris Bacon]

AFAIK the wasps just hibernate somewhere sheltered, and build up from new again "next year". If you see a new little ball of a nest in the season, that's the time to do something - in fact, when you gat biggish wasps early in the year buzzing about, then

*that's* the time to flatten 'em (all queens). Often several will drift in through an open window in spring.

[david lang]

I very much doubt that, given the cutbacks in the National Elf Service recently.

Dave

[Set Square]

Surely that means that there are a lot of redundant elves around - which may well end up in attics!

[Andy Dingley]

If you listen carefully at night you might hear their cries,

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