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RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

I'm sure they say this every year, but there are apparently a lot more wasps about this summer, another consequence of the cool, wet weather and the abundance of fruit in our countryside.

I'm a coward. I'm terrified of the things, and they can spoil the pleasure of eating outside. So far, they are not much in evidence here - how are other parts of the country faring?

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Ron

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:35 am Post subject:

I would say more than recent years but nowhere near as many as we used to get. Pesky things - do they serve any purpose?
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MiS

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

I think they eat aphids and caterpillars, which can be a pest in gardens, but they also like apples and plums. Old fashioned bakery shops always had a load of wasps in their window around the cream cakes and jam doughnuts
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Ron

SantaFefan · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:46 am Post subject:

Amusing wasp discussion on the JV show a couple of days ago.. some people hate them and normally get stung trying to waft them away whereas others respect and ignore them sting free..

I had to laugh at the woman from Norwich who allows them to share her food if outside with no problems. I've done this too.. a wasp went back and forth taking pieces of my chicken roll - each piece sawn off with great precision. She even allows a wasp to lick her fingers!

I do my best to stay calm and let them investigate and I haven't been stung yet. Mrs SF usually runs off in a panic with the wasp in hot pursuit! Laughing

All in all, I agreed with the chap who regards them as a precious life form which we should respect and not harm if at all possible.
Can't say I've seen many so far though...
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Rachel · Guest

At School our geography teacher wouldn't teach if there was a Wasp in the classroom. One of the tearaways ( would be called Disruptive Child now) collected Wasps at breaktime ( we called it playtime back then) in a jar , he would release them one at a time. The teacher ( Mr Younger) would spend ages trying to persaude the Wasp to leave by a window, so we didn't get much geography done .... Smile

Eating outside, Ron........ Oh not for me thanks - I don't eat outside if there's an indoor alternative. Even in Rome where it looks like all the Cafes have disgorged their customers out onto the pavement, I ate inside. " You English?" they asked .

I hate Wasps, they have no predictable flight path.

SantaFefan · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:49 am Post subject:

One thing I'm always aware of, is the possibility a Wasp haas crawled in to my drink can... Shocked

can you imagine it??
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RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

That's a favourite hiding place for them SF

I remember, years ago (here we go again, say Laughing

) on holiday in Scotland, up around Dornoch and the Moray Firth, which is actually quite a sun trap (for Scotland) we stopped at a little tea shop and, as it was a warm day, fancied having a cuppa and a cake outside in its garden.

Unfortunately the place was buzzin', and the owners had put on each table a jar smeared with honey and a couple of inches of water inside. The wasps were attracted by the honey and, eventually, fell into the water and drowned - there were hundreds of them. Trouble was, they buzzed around us long before they got to the jars Evil or Very Mad

They love barbecues as well, and if we're invited to one at this time of year I know it's going to be hell. Don't think that they'll be deterred by the smoke (I'm sure what's put out by the burning charcoal and lighter fluid is far more harmful to us than to them anyway).
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Ron

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:13 am Post subject:

I think I prefer wasps to BBQs - why ruin good food?
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MiS

SantaFefan · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:24 am Post subject:

I'd have probably rescued them all Laughing

As a kid, I remember being frequently horrified by those terrible sticky tape Fly catchers you used to see hanging in shops. I hated it and thought it was so cruel even for Flies.. I once got some funny looks rescuing a drowning Hornet type thing from a swimming pool in the US. Rolling Eyes

Again, I had to smile listening to the JV show recently when they discussed the perils of Seagulls and that somewhere down south, there is a £2000 fine for feeding them.
I've been feeding a pair of beautiful Gulls here for the last 5 years! they're here everyday sitting on my garage roof and he'll respond to the name of "George" ( Segal Laughing

)
I've lived by the sea all my life and have never seen a Gull attack anybody! swoop to defend their nests yes but never make contact.
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Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

They have been bad here this year and they seem to really aggressive, more so than usual.
O/H is allergic to their stings so he has to be really careful.

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

I got bitten twice in one day - once on the knee and once on a finger. My knee and my hand swelled up like a balloon. I've never really reacted in this way to wasp stings before.

My doctor said that it's a strong ellergic reaction to a particularly nasty species of "Eurowasp".
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mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

I have noiticed some cases, people can be stung by a wasp and get an ellergic reaction a few days later.