One wasp
Following up to Serena Blanchflower
I've had one or two around for about the past month. The first one I saw this year seemed fascinated by my bed head for some reason. For several days it was a frequent visitor, inspecting my bed carefully before going outside again. I don't think she was eating it, so I'm not expecting to find a blue cotton wasps nest anywhere, but I don't know what the fascination was. I'm not too bothered by wasps, but I did find it rather disconcerting listening to her buzzing only a foot or so from my head! sounds like a queen looking for a nest site. Although i'm generally a live and let live type I draw the line at wasps, especially queens. -- Mike Reid "Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso London & the British hills "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" Spain, food and walking "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" (see web for email) |
One wasp
In article , Michael Saunby writes "H" wrote in message ... "One wasp" at this time of year is usually a queen out of hibernation Been having my usual flight of wasps coming to my pond to collect water for a while now. Now that doesn't seem very likely. As a beekeeper, and having had visitors to my home in the past declare "those are bees?? - I thought those were wasps" I do rather despair at many folks ability to distinguish in even a very basic way between wasps, honey bees and solitary bees. Honey bees have been flying in large numbers for many weeks now - ours have been enjoying the gorse and willow flowers. I'll admit that wasps can be a nuisance to those with fruit trees, and to many others in the autumn when they disperse. But even hornets are rarely a problem for most folk - we get them here and they will raid beehives, but I wouldn't kill them. I personally wouldn't have put the "even" in front of the hornets. They don't occur where I live now, but when we lived further south we had them in the garden. They're much more docile and less aggressive than wasps - big stripey pussycats, in fact :-) -- Malcolm |
One wasp
see, please do not kill them for they are great scavengers even though they annoy one at times. annoy is probably an understatment if there is a nest nearbye and you want to eat in the garden! -- ) Don't be greedy: put one slice of ham between you and the wasps' nest. They'll soon be diverted from your meal for they love ham. |
One wasp
"Mark Allison" wrote in message ... I've got about 20 of them trying to make a nest in my cavity wall. I've had to fill any breathing holes in the wall with blu tack, to stop them building. There's a species of bees that will dig a hole through mortar and build their nest in the wall. |
One wasp
snip. . . . . . inspecting my bed carefully
before going outside again. I don't think she was eating it, so I'm not expecting to find a blue cotton wasps nest anywhere, but I don't know what the fascination was. Serena Wasps will bite off bits of wood from posts and fallen trees to turn into paper mache for their combs . . . but a BED POST??!! |
One wasp
Won't go for ham salad in the summer then! It's expensive enough feeding
ourselves and the cat, but wasps as well? Aileen "geoff" wrote in message ... see, please do not kill them for they are great scavengers even though they annoy one at times. annoy is probably an understatment if there is a nest nearbye and you want to eat in the garden! -- ) Don't be greedy: put one slice of ham between you and the wasps' nest. They'll soon be diverted from your meal for they love ham. |
One wasp
I personally wouldn't have put the "even" in front of the hornets. They
don't occur where I live now, but when we lived further south we had them in the garden. They're much more docile and less aggressive than wasps - big stripey pussycats, in fact :-) Malcolm That's how I think of bumble bees. My wife runs a mile, but I think they are sort of "cute". I can be dead heading plants and they land in a flower next to my hand - they never seem the slightest bit interested in me so I leave them to it. Live and let live. Wasps on the other hand - its open warfare! -- Drakanthus. (Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails will never reach me.) |
One wasp
In article , geoff writes "Mark Allison" wrote in message ... I've got about 20 of them trying to make a nest in my cavity wall. I've had to fill any breathing holes in the wall with blu tack, to stop them building. There's a species of bees that will dig a hole through mortar and build their nest in the wall. More than one species - called Mason or Mortar Bees. They are solitary bees, not colonial like honey bees, because each hole only contains one female and her eggs or larvae, but sometimes large numbers live in holes bored very close to each other and they can occasionally cause considerable damage to house walls. See http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/insident/masonbee.html -- Malcolm |
One wasp
In article , geoff writes snip. . . . . . inspecting my bed carefully before going outside again. I don't think she was eating it, so I'm not expecting to find a blue cotton wasps nest anywhere, but I don't know what the fascination was. Serena Wasps will bite off bits of wood from posts and fallen trees to turn into paper mache for their combs . . . but a BED POST??!! Perhaps it was after the chewing gum(1) ! (1) Showing my age.... -- Malcolm |
One wasp
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One wasp
The wasps have tried to dig through the blu-tack with success once, I have
now reapplied the blu-tack a bit thicker now and they can't get through it. They'll probably go next door... -- Mark Allison, SQL Server MVP http://www.allisonmitchell.com "geoff" wrote in message ... "Mark Allison" wrote in message ... I've got about 20 of them trying to make a nest in my cavity wall. I've had to fill any breathing holes in the wall with blu tack, to stop them building. There's a species of bees that will dig a hole through mortar and build their nest in the wall. ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
One wasp
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One wasp
Stephen Howard wrote:
On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 08:31:13 +0100, "geoff" wrote: Urgers, "One wasp" at this time of year is usually a queen out of hibernation looking for somewhere to "set up shop". A very large one might be a hornet which have a fearful reputation but are not so bad as wasps. Whichever you see, please do not kill them for they are great scavengers even though they annoy one at times. A couple of year ago I was busily working away at my lathe when a sharp pain shot through my back. The shock it gave me caused me to jump - and with my hand on one of the feed wheels I bumped the lathe tool into the piece I was working on, shattering the work. It was a bloody wasp, it had crawled down my neck and stung my back - I just didn't hear or feel the thing coming. I got stung two more times that day, both in the same fashion. I'll leave wasps alone in their own environment - much in the same way that whilst I'll squash slugs on my veggy patch and flower beds I won't squash them elsewhere - in their place these creatures have a right to exist and perform a useful function. Hear him, hear him. I've twice been stung by wasps while putting the laundry out. A friend pointed out that each time the innocent wasp probably landed on my neck with the best of intentions before my collar attacked it as I moved. I don't care. My house and garden are *my* environment: any wasp looking for a nest site is doomed if I spot it.[1] Besides which I think I'm developing an allergy to the stings :-(( regards sarah [1] About six so far this year, but who's counting? -- "Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth." Aldous Huxley |
One wasp
No I never kill them as they kill off a lot of pests. I remember the cricket
groundsman who killed all the wasps and all the grass died out through lack of pollination. Sounds a bit far fetched now The Reid wrote: : Following up to geoff : :: Whichever you :: see, please do not kill them for they are great scavengers even :: though they annoy one at times. : : annoy is probably an understatment if there is a nest nearbye and you : want to eat in the garden! |
One wasp
No they do so much good
Simon Avery wrote: : "The Devil's Advocate" wrote: : : Hello The : : TDsA Doesn't make a summer but I saw one this evening : : I killed a Queen yesterday. They're starting to come out of : hibernation and are hunting around for nesting sites. : : If you see one, get the bugger quick before it turns itself into a : nest! |
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