We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

A neighbour called in early this morning to ask for some advice on
what to do with a wasps nest near their front door. Tried to advise
her to get a pest controller in but she seemed to think that it was a
job that her husband would really enjoy (having failed to persuade me
to volunteer).
--
rbel

On 29/06/2013 19:22, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 15:04:08 +0100, rbel wrote:

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

A neighbour called in early this morning to ask for some advice on
what to do with a wasps nest near their front door. Tried to advise
her to get a pest controller in but she seemed to think that it was a
job that her husband would really enjoy (having failed to persuade me
to volunteer).

There's a 'spray' you can get for wasps nests that comes out as a jet
of foam, with a range of about 10 feet IIRC, so you can apply it to
the entrance of the nest from a safe(r) distance. Best applied in the
early evening when the wasps are returning home. Then as they trample
over/through it, they carry the poison into the nest. By next morning,
most of them are dead, and those that aren't are pretty far gone.


The one I have had best results with is the powder again sprayed around
the entrance to the nest, or any other place they walk through; I had
them one year going into the glasshouse after the grapes, they all
entered through a small gap in the corner, dusted that and in a day they
were gone.

On 2013-06-29 13:15:44 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

Out of the question here. Our garden and tea room are open to the
public 7 days a week and few enjoy wasps with their cream tea or
salads! This nest was about 8' from the tea room's back door, so the
wasps would have invaded the kitchen which is full of sugary, jammy
things being baked. Then they'd have moved onto the public area and the
garden itself. I prefer bees because they don't look for trouble as I
always feel wasps do! But even bees would have been a nightmare in that
location for the same reasons but also because people would have been
crossing in front of the nest the whole time and they don't like that.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-06-30 10:27:13 +0100, Martin said:

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 10:10:21 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2013-06-29 13:15:44 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

Out of the question here. Our garden and tea room are open to the
public 7 days a week and few enjoy wasps with their cream tea or
salads! This nest was about 8' from the tea room's back door, so the
wasps would have invaded the kitchen which is full of sugary, jammy
things being baked. Then they'd have moved onto the public area and the
garden itself. I prefer bees because they don't look for trouble as I
always feel wasps do! But even bees would have been a nightmare in that
location for the same reasons but also because people would have been
crossing in front of the nest the whole time and they don't like that.

We haven't seen a wasp or a honey bee in our garden this year, nor for
the second year running are there any mosquitoes. There are lots of
bumble bees and hover flies.

I've now seen four honeybees and two were in the house. How it is that
they can fly in like arrows from a bow but never find the open window
to get out again, is beyond us! Daft creatures! We have lots of bumble
bees but few hover flies so far. All this general fall in insect
numbers must account for the birds desperate need for food, I think.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-06-30 11:42:24 +0100, Martin said:

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 10:42:11 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2013-06-30 10:27:13 +0100, Martin said:

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 10:10:21 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2013-06-29 13:15:44 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

Out of the question here. Our garden and tea room are open to the
public 7 days a week and few enjoy wasps with their cream tea or
salads! This nest was about 8' from the tea room's back door, so the
wasps would have invaded the kitchen which is full of sugary, jammy
things being baked. Then they'd have moved onto the public area and the
garden itself. I prefer bees because they don't look for trouble as I
always feel wasps do! But even bees would have been a nightmare in that
location for the same reasons but also because people would have been
crossing in front of the nest the whole time and they don't like that.

We haven't seen a wasp or a honey bee in our garden this year, nor for
the second year running are there any mosquitoes. There are lots of
bumble bees and hover flies.

I've now seen four honeybees and two were in the house. How it is that
they can fly in like arrows from a bow but never find the open window
to get out again, is beyond us! Daft creatures!

and end up having to be picked up and chucked out of the window.

We have a blackbird that stands up against the patio door watching us
eat. Blackbirds are so tame that it's a miracle that the cats don't
get all of them.

Same here and the robins are positively pushy. There's a baby that
haunts the area the staff have tea and coffee and the other day he was
observed chasing off his elders and betters so he could scoff some
crumbs!

We have lots of bumble
bees but few hover flies so far. All this general fall in insect
numbers must account for the birds desperate need for food, I think.

Taking my wife's breakfast is a step too far :-)

Yes that does demonstrate a certain cheek, I do admit!

After somebody posted the NHM site about bumble bees, I noticed that
the bumble bees in our are all the same sort, Tour de France yellow
jersey with black velvet trousers and orange tail, pratorum,
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curati....html#pratorum

but they are also in two sizes large and small, nothing in between.

I didn't scrutinise their genitalia.

Glad to hear it - that would definitely qualify as 'get a life'!! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Large - queen, small - worker

Not seen a single wasp yet here in Bucks. I wouldn't have thought the cold March was very good for them, but perhaps it wasn't so cold for you then.

In general there aren't many insects of any description around, though the late flowering of my fruit trees resulted in good pollination - the trees that have no fruit - pears and damson - had no flowers to pollinate. But the apples and peach are well endowed. My grape vine is flowering even later than last year, its July and the flowers aren't open yet. Hope there is enough time to ripen the fruit.

My grape vine hasn't started to flower yet. I'm so glad figs don't require pollination.

On 01/07/2013 09:41, echinosum wrote:
'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;986414']We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky
devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Not seen a single wasp yet here in Bucks. I wouldn't have thought the
cold March was very good for them, but perhaps it wasn't so cold for you
then.

In general there aren't many insects of any description around, though
the late flowering of my fruit trees resulted in good pollination - the
trees that have no fruit - pears and damson - had no flowers to
pollinate. But the apples and peach are well endowed. My grape vine is
flowering even later than last year, its July and the flowers aren't
open yet. Hope there is enough time to ripen the fruit.

Went to move a few boxes of the field this evening, I thought one had a
Hornets nest on it, but tonight it is much bigger and has several small
wasps buzzing around it.

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com


They are also known to raid bees hives so perhaps they're not so friendly
after all

Bill

On 2013-07-03 21:04:24 +0100, Bill Grey said:

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:09:37 +0100, Sacha wrote:

We've just destroyed the first nest of the year. The cheeky devils were
taking over a bird box hanging in the courtyard outside the tea room's
back door. It would have been a nightmare for everyone! However, the
pest controller did warn me that they love the sort of humid weather
we've had and that the professionals think this is going to be a bad
year for wasps. Or a good year, if you're a wasp, I suppose!

Honey bees took over one of our bird boxes this year. If anything I
would rather have wasps as their stings don't hurt as much as bees.
Wasps are supposed to kill some other garden pests so maybe we should
leave them to it!

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com


They are also known to raid bees hives so perhaps they're not so
friendly after all

Bill

The bees sting them to death but of course, that kills the bees.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk