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[Stellajane]

Is it just me or has there been a distinct lack of the little blighters this year?? I don't recall one occasion of having to chase any out of the house or of granddaughters screaming their heads off because one's chasing them around the garden!

[Maryjane]

Hubby and I got stung twice each yesterday by a hornet in the woods , I chased literally 🐝🐝🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️.

Very painful and very big ( past of the wasp family so part of the thread I think ) .

[CaroleM]

Thankfully not seen many this year, they are one of the two flying things I am allergic too. Well, their stings. The other are bees.  They are all welcome in our garden and we seem to have a healthy regard for each other - they leave me alone and I promised not to upset them😀. Still, I always have my  epipen to hand, just in case!

Brighteyes

[CLKD]

There was a great article in a recent Sat. paper - apparently we see them at this time of year as they have been thrown from the nest, their purpose in Life served which was feeding the pupae.  I have put jars of cheap jam outside and they are flocking there 

[Taz2]

I've got two nests this year. One has not "closed for the season" and the other is still going.

CLKD is right. All through the summer the worker wasps have the job of feeding the young queen grubs. They catch thousands of aphids and caterpillars and take them back to the nest. Each time they feed a grub the grub exudes a drop of sugary substance which is likened to heroine in it's addictiveness and keeps the worker wasps working. When the grubs develop and leave the nest the workers job is done but, of course, they also lose their drug supply which is what sends them into our gardens and houses searching for anything sweet and sugary. When the frosts arrive the worker wasps usually die.

The young queens mate when they leave the nest and then find a cosy place to hibernate. In the Spring they search for a good nest site and make the first cells in which they lay the eggs which will develop into the worker wasps and the whole cycle begins again.

Nests are never returned to. In the early summer if you are bothered by wasps in the garden or if you are out somewhere (especially maybe sat in a pub garden having lunch) there's no point in putting down something sweet to lure them away from your table. They need something like a small piece of ham or other protein which they will cut into tiny pieces and take back to the nest.

Wasps are an important part of the eco system as they are good pollinators and keep down the aphids etc. in the garden.

Taz x

Taz x

[Taz2]

I love the little munching sounds they make! Ours take strips of wood from the fences then I rush upstairs and watch them taking the strips into the nest to make more cells. 

Taz x

[CLKD]

'ours' eat the wood from our garden shed as well as taking water from our ponds - thnx Taz that was a good explanation.  Do the worker wasps have a name as drones do for bees?