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)

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

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.

"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.

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??!!

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.

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.)

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

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

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"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
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!

Bumble bees I remove from the house by closing my hand around them - since
they rarely sting and it doesn't hurt much if they do. Wasps I'll admit I
tend to flick with a fingernail and then flick them out the window - some
live, some don't. Hornets I remove using a glass and a piece of paper.
The same for honey bees, though often they can be directed with a hand wave
or too.

For those that want to try the experimental method of working out what you
have by how much the sting hurts - wasp stings hurt a little (rather more
than a nettle) and a bee sting hurts like hell and the sting is left behind
with the venom sack still pumping. Not sure what a hornet sting is like,
probably like a wasp.

Michael Saunby

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.







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In article ,
says...

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
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!

Bumble bees I remove from the house by closing my hand around them - since
they rarely sting and it doesn't hurt much if they do. Wasps I'll admit I
tend to flick with a fingernail and then flick them out the window - some
live, some don't. Hornets I remove using a glass and a piece of paper.
The same for honey bees, though often they can be directed with a hand wave
or too.

For those that want to try the experimental method of working out what you
have by how much the sting hurts - wasp stings hurt a little (rather more
than a nettle) and a bee sting hurts like hell and the sting is left behind
with the venom sack still pumping. Not sure what a hornet sting is like,
probably like a wasp.

Not strictly accurate as it can depend very much on the vulnerability of
the victim. Some people react very badly to wasp or bee stings as do
some people to Adder bites.
Rob

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

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!

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!