Wasp Nests In Berks, Oxon, Hants, Surrey & Bucks
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
Wasp Nests In Berks, Oxon, Hants, Surrey & Bucks:
At PEST UK we are now experiencing the types of calls we normally would receive in early May. A lot of calls for wasps but once the technician attends these are usually found to be bees. We have had small wasp nests but these are rare and you would also get these in a ‘normal’ May. I have seen a few Queen wasps foraging for food. I have yet to see any scraping our fences to make a pulp to build the nest. The Queens (& later on the workers) scape old wood (usually old wooden fencing or garden furniture) and chew it with their saliva into a paste which is used to make the nest. The workers take this task over from the Queen & she stays in the nest and just lays eggs. As the Summer advances the worker wasps can often be seen collecting water. This is used for drinking but also for cooling the nest. Water is placed on the outside of the nest which evaporates thus creating a cooling effect. The majority of wasp nests are situated in lofts and modern lofts will often reach temperatures in excess of 30c. Anything over 20c is too warm for nests so cooling measures such as fanning and the water method is used. People some times only realise they have a wasp nest problem when they hear a buzzing or humming coming from the loft on a hot evening. Once it is dark all the workers will be back in the nest and if very hot most will be fanning and making a noise to help keep the nest cool. I can remember reading a few years back how Spring was starting so early that our native wildlife, plants etc were in danger. This may be the case in the longer term but certainly not this year.
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