Calls for Wasp Nests, Bees and Ants
In Pests in August, Pests in July, Pests in June, Pests in May, Pests in October, Pests in September, Pests in Spring, Pests in Summer, Wasps
Calls for Wasp Nests, Bees and Ants:
At PEST UK we are getting many calls in our area (Berkshire, South Oxfordshire, Surrey, South Buckinghamshire and North Hampshire) for people saying they have a wasp nest. At this time of the year this is rarely the case. If they have any wasp(s) it will be a Queen or Queens as these have only recently come out of hibernation. At PEST UK we always try to move the bees or persuade the customer to leave them. Bees are not normally aggressive but nowadays people are scared of being sued and of people suffering allergic reaction should they be stung. People getting stung by bees is rare. The bees most likely to sting are Honey Bees. They can get aggressive if they think the hive is in danger. Customers will either think there bees are wasps but some will identify the species (usually by researching on the internet) and a lot of people will request that they are moved. Problem is in most cases this is not possible. Mason and mining bees may be hundreds of individual nests (the difference between these types of bees and wasps and Bumble Bees is that all the females lay eggs while with the other two types only the Queen lays eggs). So removing the nest(s) in these cases would be almost impossible. Bumble Bee nests can some times be either dug up (if in the ground) or removed if in an accessible position in the loft. I have re located many Bumble Bee nests. I think the main problem is that the bees get lost once released and the nests only survive once the adults that emerge once the nest is in it’s new location hatch and carry on the work of maintaining the nest and new grubs.
Call outs for ants are mainly in the Spring when they first emerge from hibernation and when the nests swarm in the Summer. They are mainly a nuisance rather than a hazard. People often think the winged ants are a separate species, they are not they are the Queens and Drones which have been produced then removed from the nest by the workers to swarm and mate. this happens over a wide area once the temperature and humidity is high enough. They mate, the Drones die and the fertile Queens loose their wings and the following Spring start new nests. Unlike wasp or Bumble Bee nests which only last a year, an ants nest can carry on for about four years.
