"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
sacha writes:
| in article , Grahame Fendle
at
| wrote on 25/11/02 11:24 am:
| "Peter Crosland" wrote:
|
| The wasps will be long dead by this time of year.
|
| Oh dear. How wrong can you be?
|
| I listened to this advice from someone else some months ago. I wish I
never
| had, for it had almost tragic consequences.
|
| I must agree with this. I think that when someone makes that comment,
they
| should add the rider "depending where you live". In the milder parts
of
| Britain, my experience is that they most definitely do NOT die off in
| winter.

Even in Cambridge, we have had only one mild frost. The mistake
here is following the rigid rule-book approach so beloved of most
gardening writers and almost all bureaucrats. We should judge
the passing of the seasons from observational cues and not the
calendar.


That depends on what triggers a particular organism's response to the
changing seasons. With those that die in winter because they cannot tolerate
frosts, 'winter' starts with the first frosts. With those that change
because of length of day, for instance, they will follow the calendar almost
irrespective of the weather.

I don't know for sure what governs the wasp's life cycle, but I wouldn't
assume a nest 'must' be dead just because it is autumn outside. Assumption
is the mother of all cock ups :-)