Wasps.
They've been a talking point in the PM newsletter.
Anthony Harrison in North Yorkshire writes:
"Over the last weekend I have been repairing the damage done to my gate by wasps eating the top bar. It took 1½ tins of wood filler to repair. I have just finished re-painting it with wood preserver and now look at the damage already done to it. The three photos show some of the new damage and the whitish stuff is the filler which they have re-exposed."
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I hate to imagine the size of the wasps nest!! I killed a wasp at HArdwick Hall Picnic area on Sunday. I'm doing my best to keep wasp manace down.
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I have better things to do than watch the top of my gate rot.
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Here we're troubled by hornets. They re-emerge every year and strike terror in my heart. However, on Sunday, SO spotted two brawling on the ground and, with one fell strike, reduced the population by two. I try to like them, but, like a horror movie, they bang against the window at night in a attempt to get in and terrify me even further!
Oh, and a queen wasp flew up my trouser leg on Sunday, too. Amazingly, I wasn't stung.
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After getting fed up with always being the victim, I decided to turn the tables: I tried to sting a wasp with a honeytrap - but he smelt a rat.
Maybe I should have recruited as my agent a female wasp
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I had a wasp nest in my garage a couple of years ago and bought some wasp nest spray. I thought that most of the wasps had gone, but when I sprayed the nest a few really groggy ones came out all guns ablazing. I rang my son in law who offered to come over and sort it out. He arrived with his best health and safety suit on - ie shorts, a tee shirt and trainers - and proceeded to cut the huge nest from the garage roof space. There were a lot more wasps left in the nest than I could have imagined. My son-in-law therefore went up hugely in my estimation when he shooed the last ones away for me into the outside world. I still have the empty wasp nest and it is a beautiful sight to behold. If I was more techie, I would post up a photo of it!
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Moving on to ladybirds, I've only seen a couple of dozen so far this year (south Essex) - and the majority (80%+) of them have been good old English seven-spots. Last year the natives seemed to have been overrun by the invading harlequins - perhaps they couldn't take the (comparatively) hard winter?
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Sid 6, I had a native ladybird land on me today.
BS 3, Hornets can be big suckers.
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Big Sister, you are lucky to have hornets nearby; wasps are their favourite food. Hornets catch wasps in flight and rip out their flight muscles, before dropping the hapless victims. Each hornet dispatches several dozen of its smaller relatives daily thus drastically reducing the population of wasp nests in the locality.
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Jem: Respect to the hornets, then! Just as long as they keep away from me. I spotted another one today, so they're definitely still around and about.
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If wasps aren't in a place where they will bother you, leave them alone. They will die off over the winter and the queen will build a new nest somewhere else.
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Every year the wasps build a nest somewhere on our property. We've learnt to live with them. Still kill them if they come inside, of course, before they can sting us, but like David said, they do die off in winter. This year's nest is in the roof really high up, so absolutely no way SO was going up to spray them.
Didn't know that about hornets. Don't think I even know what one looks like. Not sure I want to meet one anyway!
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Anthony H - do the wasps eat anything else in your garden? Do you know what is attracting them to your gate?
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The wasps will be attracted to the gate because of the wood. They'll be openeing the hole up becuase the wood inside will be softer that the weathered outside. They chew the wood into a pulp to make the nest. If you've ever seen a wasps nest that has been opened up it's an intricate work of art.
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gm (12)
I have two identical gates, the pictured one in the front and a similar one about twenty yards away leading from the front drive to the back garden. This other one has never been attacked. There is also a wooden five-rail fence from the front (attacked) gate across the rest of the front garden, but this also has never been attacked - just the top bar of the front gate. This has been going on for two or three years, and as far as I know there is no nearby wasp nest.
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