........of the wasps. We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the man from
the council said "good job too". Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. He said that while the well-mannered English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Sacha wrote:

Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?

They have been in the American colonies for a good 30 years; I learned
about them at a beekeeping short course close to 20 years ago. At that
time they said the majority (I forget the percentage) of wasps trapped at a
McDonald's trash bin were Vespula Germanica. And as you say, they are more
aggressive than the native ones (which were likely British imports), as
well as liking the same junk food we do.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

On 10/7/08 15:55, in article ,
"Gary Woods" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?

They have been in the American colonies for a good 30 years; I learned
about them at a beekeeping short course close to 20 years ago. At that
time they said the majority (I forget the percentage) of wasps trapped at a
McDonald's trash bin were Vespula Germanica. And as you say, they are more
aggressive than the native ones (which were likely British imports), as
well as liking the same junk food we do.


Thanks, Gary. I've read a bit about them since and one theory - if it is a
theory - is that they have twice the venom of our domestic variety! I am
very relieved ours have been despatched. Not only would we rather staff and
customers don't get stung, the eaves of that area are adjacent to one of our
spare bedrooms - the one mother, father and babies usually use when they're
here!


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

........of the wasps. We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the
man from
the council said "good job too". Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. He said that while the well-mannered English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?

Yes, they are bad news. There was one area of the estate I do a bit of
work on sometimes where a colony started, and I used to carry a large
springy fly-swatter. I think I would have won Wombledom that year.

Found the nest and one night, tipped a quantity of shotgun powder into
it through a funnel, lit a fuse to it, and WHOOOMPH! that was that.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

On 10/7/08 17:35, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

........of the wasps. We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the
man from
the council said "good job too". Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. He said that while the well-mannered English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?

Yes, they are bad news. There was one area of the estate I do a bit of
work on sometimes where a colony started, and I used to carry a large
springy fly-swatter. I think I would have won Wombledom that year.

Found the nest and one night, tipped a quantity of shotgun powder into
it through a funnel, lit a fuse to it, and WHOOOMPH! that was that.

Why do I get the impression you enjoyed yourself *enormously*? ;-) The
more I here of these things, the more relieved I am that they've gone to the
wasp nest in the sky!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Sacha wrote:
On 10/7/08 17:35, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

........of the wasps. We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the
man from
the council said "good job too". Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. He said that while the well-mannered English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?
Yes, they are bad news. There was one area of the estate I do a bit of
work on sometimes where a colony started, and I used to carry a large
springy fly-swatter. I think I would have won Wombledom that year.

Found the nest and one night, tipped a quantity of shotgun powder into
it through a funnel, lit a fuse to it, and WHOOOMPH! that was that.

Why do I get the impression you enjoyed yourself *enormously*? ;-) The
more I here of these things, the more relieved I am that they've gone to the
wasp nest in the sky!
I never worried about wasps until a few years ago when I got stung
several times. The next time the reaction was terrible, so now I am very
wary. As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

On 10/7/08 18:42, in article , "Broadback"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:
On 10/7/08 17:35, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

........of the wasps. We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the
man from
the council said "good job too". Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. He said that while the well-mannered
English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?
Yes, they are bad news. There was one area of the estate I do a bit of
work on sometimes where a colony started, and I used to carry a large
springy fly-swatter. I think I would have won Wombledom that year.

Found the nest and one night, tipped a quantity of shotgun powder into
it through a funnel, lit a fuse to it, and WHOOOMPH! that was that.

Why do I get the impression you enjoyed yourself *enormously*? ;-) The
more I here of these things, the more relieved I am that they've gone to the
wasp nest in the sky!
I never worried about wasps until a few years ago when I got stung
several times. The next time the reaction was terrible, so now I am very
wary. As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

I think you are right to be wary. I'm extremely allergic to bee stings and
now carry an Epipen with me. As to your wasps in the ground, a friend of
mine ended up in hospital while digging her garden one day. Her spade had
gone right into a wasp's nest. Whether it's actually usual, I don't know
but it happens.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 10 Jul, 19:23, Sacha wrote:
On 10/7/08 18:42, in article , "Broadback"





wrote:
Sacha wrote:
On 10/7/08 17:35, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

........of the wasps. *We've just had a wasps nest destroyed and the
man from
the council said "good job too". *Apparently what we had trying to nest in
the eaves of the tea room kitchen, were German wasps. *I don't think I've
ever heard of them but according to him they're smaller, darker than our
natives and very very vicious. *He said that while the well-mannered
English
wasp will mostly ignore you if you don't bother it, these will positively
attack you if you're near them.
Anyone else had any experience of these wasps?
Yes, they are bad news. There was one area of the estate I do a bit of
work on sometimes where a colony started, and I used to carry a large
springy fly-swatter. I think I would have won Wombledom that year.

Found the nest and one night, tipped a quantity of shotgun powder into
it through a funnel, lit a fuse to it, and WHOOOMPH! that was that.

Why do I get the impression you enjoyed yourself *enormously*? *;-) *The
more I here of these things, the more relieved I am that they've gone to the
wasp nest in the sky!
I never worried about wasps until a few years ago when I got stung
several times. The next time the reaction was terrible, so now I am very
wary. As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

I think you are right to be wary. *I'm extremely allergic to bee stings and
now carry an Epipen with me. *As to your wasps in the ground, a friend of
mine ended up in hospital while digging her garden one day. *Her spade had
gone right into a wasp's nest. *Whether it's actually usual, I don't know
but it happens.

--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I used to be hypersensitive to wasps and over the years it was geting
worse and worse, I had 2 courses od desentization and the last course
(Pure venom) worked but I am still very wary of the little blighters.

This website might be of interest regarding Wasps of different kinds.
http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th4.htm
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

"Broadback" wrote in message
...

As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

It's normal for some types of social wasps to make nests in abandoned mouse
holes, excavating them to make the hole big enough. Bumble bees do the same.

Most social wasps prefer to build nests in sheltered places, the paper is
fragile and can be damaged by wind and rain.

Don't worry about the nest, the wasps will die off in a couple of months or
so and the nest won't be re-occupied. If you try to kill the wasps or dig
out the nest while it's still occupied you're asking for trouble.

Mary

In message , Mary
Fisher writes

Don't worry about the nest, the wasps will die off in a couple of months or
so and the nest won't be re-occupied. If you try to kill the wasps or dig
out the nest while it's still occupied you're asking for trouble.

The council pest control man told me all that after he'd killed the
wasps in a corner of our loft. I called him because I was painting
the eaves of the house and they were buzzing in and out of a gap in the
woodwork as I worked. I'm not scared of wasps but the top of a
ladder is no place to be when they are constantly passing your head.!
--
Gordon H

On Jul 11, 9:41 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Broadback" wrote in message

...

As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

It's normal for some types of social wasps to make nests in abandoned mouse
holes, excavating them to make the hole big enough. Bumble bees do the same.

Most social wasps prefer to build nests in sheltered places, the paper is
fragile and can be damaged by wind and rain.

Don't worry about the nest, the wasps will die off in a couple of months or
so and the nest won't be re-occupied. If you try to kill the wasps or dig
out the nest while it's still occupied you're asking for trouble.

Mary

Mary, you may remember years ago, I was stung multiple times by wasps
that also chased me into the house and stung me through my clothes, I
ended up in the shower fully clothed with wasps dripping off me, in my
hair ugh, I still have the shivers. We had a wasps' nest in the bank
and our grandson was forever trying to catch them, also they were a
menace when he was eating fruit from the trees outside. I did a very
stupid thing, as I posted before, I took some advice to wait until
nightfall and pour down jeyes fluid into the hole. They swarmed out
after me, I have never been so frightened in my life, now I have an
absolute terror of them, one buzz and I am off.

Judith

In message t
"Mary Fisher" wrote:


"Broadback" wrote in message
...

As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

It's normal for some types of social wasps to make nests in abandoned mouse
holes, excavating them to make the hole big enough. Bumble bees do the same.

Ah! A lady who knows something that I want to know. My daughter gave
me a bumblebee nesting box for Christmas and I followed the
instructions which said that a mouse nest should be put in the nesting
box to attract bees, so I got my local pet shop to stable his mice
overnight in hay and put that hay into the box (Ah, the obligation
that some gifts put on you!), but no bees settled in it. What more can
I do? It'll have to be next season now of course.

Michael Bell

--

The message
from Broadback contains these words:

I never worried about wasps until a few years ago when I got stung
several times. The next time the reaction was terrible, so now I am very
wary. As a bit of an aside I seem to have a wasp nest in an abandoned
mole/mouse hole at the edge of my lawn. Is this normal, all other wasp
nests I have seen are outside and consist of a "paper" ball?

Quite normal.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

I'm not sure if it is exactly the same one, but we had some notably aggressive type of wasp trying to nest in our beech hedge a couple of years back, and we both got stung. Some of them chased me all the way down the garden when I did something to upset them. I was rather confused when I tried to locate where they were coming from precisely, because I expected them to be in a hole in the ground, but there wasn't one. I read about it afterwards, and it was something that had come in from the continent with the warm weather, and this type likes to nest in places like untidy hedges. Fortunately they didn't like the hedge after it had been trimmed and bxxxxered off before I got to them with the chemicals.

This year we found a queen hornet trying to set up a nest in a cardboard box containing spare bicycle bits in the garden shed. We got her out of the building and and squashed her tiny beginnings of a nest. I thought we had disturbed her sufficiently that she would go somewhere else, because she flew off. But she was back the following day and I got rid of her in permanent manner. Sad really because they are magnificent insects, but I can't really have a nest of hornets in the shed, me being allergic to wasp stings and my nearly-two-year-old daughter running around the garden. She's already got stung by a wasp this year when she picked one up.

Wandering off a second, we have got some relatives staying at the moment, and they tell me they are convinced they saw a firecrest in the garden yesterday. I pooh-poohed, said must be a goldcrest, but he assures me he can tell the difference.