Wasps

Then I think they would all find some Buglife projects for kids fascinating:

We don't have any allotments within a short enough distance, but I'll pass on the info to the Beaver and Cub leaders this week.

Thanks for the links.

Wife is ADC for the town's beavers, so she doesn't get involved in the things the individual colonies do as much these days though.

Dave

You're welcome. I was once in a scout group, and, looking back, I'd say it was, in practical terms, one of the most useful parts of my education, and it must have been the starting point for many a lifelong DIYer - and indeed, wildlife/countryside enthusiast. Mind you, I always nearly froze to death at night camping!

:-)

In message , Bill writes

Lots of people will come up with pills and potions

Others will tell you to hug them and leave them a saucer of milk

The only thing I found that will work well in your instance is to spray the entrance holes with Nippon powder. They take it into the nest and within two days you have no more than a couple of lost souls looking for the nest

In message , geoff writes

Agree about the Nippon powder being effective but find the usual dispenser unsuitable for firing up into the soffit area. One year I made up some sheet metal trays with a screwed tab to fix them under the soffit and close to the hole. Worked OK as the Wasps landed in the tray en-route to the nest. Re-loading with powder was an issue as Wasps hang about the entrance after dark.

I also tried using a piece of Bundy tube, bent so that the dispenser could be held normally. Needs improvement and an opportunity for our inventive correspondents:-)

regards

Aye, I found a wsp nest in the loft of my flat once, late in the season it was *huge* about 18" high and at least a couple of feet wide. After that I made of point of inspecting the loft in late spring for the start of nests. If I found any new ones I let loose with a liberal dose of ordinary household fly killer, that stopped the nests developing...

I've never seen that level of destruction but I've just seen a queen wasp kill out a pretty weak hive this past week - by coincidence I caught here as she left the hive and disposed of her. So I'm sorry, Spamlet, wasps and bees do not get on and the bees typically come off worse, so I join the Other Mike in pursuing them with vigour, and making sure that on my property anyway all wasp nests get destroyed.

By the way, in my experience the bigger hazard of spraying the nest entrance is making sure that I don't get a face full of the powder. Wasps don't seem to have the same coordinate nest defence capability as bees - disturb a large nest you will get attacked, but just spraying dust around the entrance hole isn't disturbing the nest.

Rob

I've never seen that level of destruction but I've just seen a queen wasp kill out a pretty weak hive this past week - by coincidence I caught here as she left the hive and disposed of her. So I'm sorry, Spamlet, wasps and bees do not get on and the bees typically come off worse, so I join the Other Mike in pursuing them with vigour, and making sure that on my property anyway all wasp nests get destroyed.

By the way, in my experience the bigger hazard of spraying the nest entrance is making sure that I don't get a face full of the powder. Wasps don't seem to have the same coordinate nest defence capability as bees - disturb a large nest you will get attacked, but just spraying dust around the entrance hole isn't disturbing the nest.

Rob

Like I said take it up with the experts:

I suggest you get in touch with them ( snipped-for-privacy@aol.com) with your story, and ask their advice. If there are more stories like yours, they may well want to investigate, the extent of the problem (mind you, if it was, as you say, 'a weak' hive then it may just be natural selection doing its job after something else has affected the bees - like nasty pesticides and strimmers and mowers removing all their natural food supplies):.

What we used to call German wasps (big with yellow and black stripes) certainly make their nests underground. I recall big excitement as a kid when a nest was dug up, after being well doused with something nasty. If I recall correctly it was 30-40 cm across.

Introduced wasps are now considered a major pest in the NZ bush, because they get all the caterpillars that some birds prey on.