lotta wasps all of a sudden ...

Same here, non until recently, now they are everywhere.

The two usual UK species (common and German) are very similar in size. Smaller things that look like "wasps" are usually hoverflies (but they are not so attracted to sugary things).

New nests are the size of a golf-ball and only produce a dozen or two individuals. How rapidly the nests grow depends on the quality of the hunting.

You might have a nest locally, their numbers do tend to increase rapidly at this time of the year. They roost at night and come out in the morning. If you do need to destroy one, the time to do it is after dark. They are normally easy to destroy with a can of spray provided you can get at the nest entrance. But unless they are really a problem (or you have vulnerable children or pets) it is better to live with them, as they get rid of lots of insect pests.

Well inspired by discussions elsewhere, I've knocked up a quick "Waspinator" - in the DIY spirit :)

Because SWMBO only likes a handful of mushrooms, and because Sainsburys more often than not don't have the paper bags for said instore, we have a stash we take with us (see also: wine carriers).

I've just filled a couple with crumpled paper and hung up in the kitchen, and outside.

The theory is they trigger a "looks like a rival wasps nest" reaction in any passing wasps at a 5-10m distance, whereupon they have urgent business elsewhere.

Will report back.

It maybe the colouring isn't quite up to scratch. The ones for sale are textured and striped to look much more like the real thing.

Unless, like me you are severely allergic to them. I try to ignore them, but it is difficult, I can feel my blood pressure increase.

Is it the time of year when wasp societies lose all sense of purpose faced with the imminence and inevitability of their end and they degenerate into a final few weeks of bacchanalian feasting on rotten fruit, brawling and stinging anyone who comes near?

Tim W

At this time of year, the activity in the wasps' nest is beginning to decline. Wasps feed their grubs on insects, caterpillars etc. unlike honey bees who feed their grubs with nectar. In return for their food, wasp grubs exude a sweet substance that the adult wasps consume, but when the numbers of grubs starts to dwindle, as it does in late summer, the wasps search elsewhere for sources of sweetness, such as your jam sandwiches, which is why you see more of them at this time of year.

By the end of the autumn, wasp nests have pretty well ceased to function, all the wasps have died except a few young queens, who seek out places to hibernate over the winter, such as in your curtains, or worse, in your underware drawer in your wardrobe!

Have you got any air bricks under or between floors. this seems to be their latest way in to build their nest usually around a hot water pipe or similar. You need to fit mesh over those nowadays. I had one devil of a job getting access to the nest under the vanity unit in my bathroom and they had found a way in through a tiny hall to next door, but the pest man soon had then sorted, but I think the nest or part of it is still stuck under the floor. I know all the beasts have a purpose, but flying ants, carpet beetles and wasps seem to be some of the most annoying along with mossies. Brian

More or less, but I doubt its actually a conscious decision, more like a drunken demise. Brian

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Chris Hogg snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net writes

Quite right.

If you are determined to find the nest and remembering this d-i-y solution works best in open country rather than your neighbours gardens....

First cut an 18" length of cotton thread and tie a simple loop roughly in the middle leaving a tightenable 1/2" loop.

Next catch a Wasp. Trapping against a window pane with soft cloth works well. Hold the Wasp in the cloth and tighten your loop of thread around the thorax.

Let the Wasp fly off. Usually, they spend some time trying to remove the thread. Eventually it will set off for the nest but because of the drag only fly slowly and not very high enabling you to follow....

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Chris Hogg snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net writes

Or, as I found out, up the sleeve of my gardening jacket hanging up in the garden shed!

Surely some sort of Internet of Things wi-fi gizmo is more appropriate ?

mind you, I understand a lot of knowledge about bees was gained after marking them with blue chalk. And there was a reason it was blue which escapes me ....

We are in a bungalow, and the rear airbricks are enclosed within the decking. Accessible admittedly.

I've always had my doubts about a stretch of "ceiling" that leads off the kitchen to one side of the building. It's slatted wood that descends down into the dining area with recesses for halogen lamps (now replaced with LED). There's nothing but insulation between it and the loft space where I have seen wasps nests in the past ...

TBH, I'm not out to nuke any nests, as long as the buggers don't get in the way. So I'm open to the "Waspinator" approach.

We've had a Waspinator for a few years now, and all I can say is that we now have virtually no wasps.

Well, 3 fake paper nests ordered. Quite impressed for £4.77 (for all 3). Quite a stiff paper and a metal frame to hold them so they look bigger.

Have hung one on eaves by patio door, and one under the roof of our outdoor smoking shelter ...

I should be very surprised if you get any wasps in them. Wasp nest activity is on the decline at this time of year, and nests are coming to the end of their working lives. Next Spring, things might be different...

The point is not to collect wasps, but to deter them because they think it is occupied territory.

Indeed. Provided they have read the instructions for the fake nests, the wasps won't nest near to them.

but, can the wasps read the instructions ?

The underlying idea (that wasps actively avoid going near a nest that is not their own) has a whiff of veracity about it. For £4.77 I'm more than happy to discover it's a crock.