OT - Bloody wasps!

[Jeff Layman]

Found a queen wasp in the hall buzzing round the light this morning! That's the third wasp in the last three weeks. Fortunately it flew out when I opened the front door.

I have no idea where they are coming from. After the first one appeared in mid-November, I removed the extract fan vent covers and fitted fine metal mesh there before replacing the cover. There is no way a wasp could get through. We haven't had a window open for ages, so they can only be coming through the doors.

Anyone else noticed these unwelcome house visitors being more frequent this autumn/winter?

[FMurtz]

they are not unwelcome, they are nice friendly useful things.

[Tim Lamb]

Well yes. Providing they nest in someone else's loft/soffit.

A down side to our new plastic windows is the rainwater drip which is arranged to form a channel at the bottom of the opener.

Opening a window now leaves a row of would be hibernators on the sill. A few wing flaps and they are in the room:-(

[Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp]

I dont think grouping them as "they" helps them interact with people. I think it's important to call them by name.

It's bound to start a relationship off on the wrong foot if your visitor is one of "them"

AB

[Tim Streater]

Possibly more of them due to the hot spell this year. Personally I off them to reduce the chance that when they wake up next spring they build in the loft or something.

[Brian Gaff]

Not this year, but some years ago they were ending up in my bathroom and under the floor was a nest, worse they had made a hole through to next door and built an extension. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Except when indoors and drowsy, when thy can be a hazard. Brian

[Jethro_uk]

Oddly enough we saw fewer wasps this year.

That said SWMBO was outside Friday, and saw a quite drowsy one bouncing around ....

[NY]

Yes I think there were fewer wasps around this year. It probably made a difference that our present house doesn't have any fruit trees nearby, whereas our old one had plum tree, raspberry bushes, red/blackcurrant bushes etc.

Having said that, we did have a wasps' nest in the loft. Then we saw a lot of wasps! But that was the exception. Virtually none before or after that.

My wife is allergic to wasp stings, so I got the council pest-control guy out the following day and he squirted some fast-acting poison into the nest which he said might make them angry for a little while but they'd all be gone by the time my wife came home from work. And that's exactly how it happened - a lot of angry buzzing, a lot of wasps milling around outside the nest, and then nothing.

[Bill Wright]

Yes we have them.

Bill

[Tim Streater]

When I unintentionally parked the lawn mower over the wasps nest in the ground, so I could talk to the guy who'd just landed his glider in the field behind us (glider? WTF?), they seemed unbothered. I did however go back and put some readymix powder in the whole, then some water - it really cemented their friendship!

[Ian Jackson]

My opinion too - despite my house wall cavity being invaded.

But not drowsy enough not to want to sting you.

I have an old coat I use for gardening hanging outside in a covered alleyway - but because of the warm autumn, I haven't needed to put it on for some time. A couple of weeks ago, I had just got my first arm in when I felt a slight prick near my shoulder. Almost immediately I thought "Wasp!" - and sure enough, after I had ripped the coat off, a drowsy wasp fell to the ground. Of course, the wasp was only going what wasps do, and I now regret doing what humans do - ie I stamped on it.

[Jeff Layman]

"Friendly" is an oxymoron when used in connection with wasps. I'm quite happy to have bees around - they are far too busy to bother me. But wasps are another matter. From

: "Wasps are aggressive and sting to attack, whilst bees sting as a defensive maneuver."

They are a damn nuisance, and can be a dangerous one at that - particularly in a house. This is from

:"It is estimated that of all deaths from anaphylaxis between 1992 and

2001 in the UK, approximately 62% were a result of reactions to wasp venom and approximately 9% were caused by reactions to bee venom.". Note too that the incidence of anaphylaxis from stings is on the increase.

I've tolerated wasps building nests in our garden for the past four years, but no longer if they are entering the house (grandchildren playing). I seem to remember that you are in Oz, and with so many apparently lethal creatures around, maybe you are getting a bit forgetful of how many deaths wasp stings actually cause - far more than Funnel Webs, Redbacks, Box Jellyfish, and more than a few snakes which many are concerned about.

[Adrian Caspersz]

I played with a few at a outdoor wedding. Had a few dancing on my hands.

People stopped coming to talk to me... ;-(

[Tim J]

Yes.

and with so many

In fact very few are

- far more than

Wrong.

[ARW]

Often a bit aggressive at this time of year. Surprised that the OP still has them.

[Jeff Layman]

Rather carelessly, I didn't make it clear that I was referring to UK-based incidence of wasp/bee sting mortality vs "other" sting/bite mortality in Australia. That paper you quoted clearly states that wasp/bee sting mortality /in Australia/ was very low, particularly when compared to other sting/bite mortality.

However, the picture appears to be changing with more recent data from

2000 - 2013. Have a look at . Unfortunately I haven't been able to review the complete paper, but at it summarises it:

"A landmark national study by University of Melbourne researchers into deaths from venomous bites and stings has found that bee and wasp stings, which led to an allergic reaction and anaphylactic shock, were responsible for more than half of the 64 deaths over the 11-year period surveyed."

[Tim J]

And the original article says that they only got 7 deaths in 30 years so most of the later ones are clearly bee stings.

[Jeff Layman]

Yes! Finally found the figures (25 bees, 2 wasps). See table here: