A New Tinder (for me)

[Broch]

@PoppyD turn away NOW.

I had to go up into the loft above the garage and in the doorway was a large abandoned wasp nest. I think they found it just too hot during the heat wave as the garage gets the full midday sun. Anyway, I cleared the nest down and when I came back down I picked it up and admired the beautiful work the wasps put into building it - streaks of grey, brown and green in spiralling patterns - truly a work of art.

I was also looking at how fine the material was - tissue paper thick. Then, it dawned on me, I had never tried to use a wasp nest as tinder. A few strikes of the ferro rod and I had a ball of flames! Obviously, I won't be doing this with a nest that has anything living in it!

 

[PoppyD]

I am horrified. But it does doesn’t it.

 

[Toddy]

We call that a wasps byke. No idea why, just what it's named.
I live next to woodland, and we have an annual cull of bykes from rafters and sheds. Usually we just put a paper bag over them and tie a bit of string around the stalk (how they fasten them onto the rafters) and then cut that off with the bread knife.
We throw the paper bag of incipient *aaaaarrrgggh* into the woods. Most of our neighbours use fly spray.
If we find the byke before it goes bigger than a tennis ball we count it as a win.
I found one we'd missed when I cleared out the shed that I keep Kilner jars, the wax and soap stuff, in...hidden in the back corner at the roof. It was dead though, no idea why, but that shed roof gets awfully hot in Summer, and the byke had broken up into curves like a broken up enormous pinecone.
It did take a spark really quickly, and I wondered if it were waxy the way bees ones can be.

 

[slowworm]

I wonder what the old hornet nest in the garage would be like as a tinder...

Actually, is there anything unique that lives in old paper nests?

 

[PoppyD]

Nooooooooooo! Queens and drones can sometimes overwinter in these. Wasps are friends. They eat midges, mozzies and flies. Yes they are annoying in your drink. But ignore them and if they go in and swim just lift them out with your finger. You won’t get stung. Or a leaf. Wasps pollinate just like bees too. Killing wasps is like killing bees. But wasps are always depicted as evil. It’s not true. I kept an active wasps nest in my bedroom for three years. Never got stung once. It’s the size of a football as they build new sections on each year. It is still there. I need to find a suitable one to put down here.

 

[Broch]

Sadly, I have quite a serious reaction to wasp stings so I have to be careful. I still do not get rid of them unless they are seriously causing a nuisance - such as building a nest in a doorway that we have to use regularly or in the tree-bog (composting loo) in the wood.

They, and their big cousins, are fascinating creatures I think they look like little robots the way they move their heads

 

[Toddy]

Wasps are maniacs in late Summer, and sort of angry maniacs, and they sting when folks panic and flail around....which being honest is the usual reaction to them too close.

I live in Lanarkshire, we have a lot of fruit, as in forty fruit trees within range of the street I live in, a lane lined with brambles and rasps, and come late Summer and Autumn there's this horrible juxtaposition of kids scranning apples, pears, brambles, and rasps, etc., and wasps doing the same thing.
The wasps are not popular

 

[slowworm]

Nooooooooooo! Queens and drones overwinter in these.

Hornets as well? Queen wasps seem to mostly leave the nest and hibernate in other places such as our log store, under our bee hive roofs or similar. I've even found a hibernating queen hornet in a log, she was carefully put back in the stack and left alone for spring. The old hornet nest in the garage is a few years old and will probably fall off soon.

I've never had a problem with native hornets and even though wasps can be an issue for my bees they are left alone as well.

 

[JonathanD]

Well this has opened a can of wasps. Well done Andy. If there’s a trio of things that’ll get Pops triggered, it’s guitars, cheese and wasps.

Queens can and do overwinter in nests if it’s a viable location that can carry on for future years. Young queens can also take over the abandoned nest if the original queen leaves.

Wasps don’t get angry. It’s not an emotion that they are capable of. It’s defence. You try and kill one, they will defend themselves. I find attitudes are shifting. For the worse. Kids now. Don’t know nature. They’re scared of everything. Flies, wasps, bees, even butterflies. If it’s around you and it flies. Kill it. Absolute panic if you’re in a pub garden and a wasp or bee or hover fly gets within a metre of anyone. Stand up dance around screaming whilst flapping your arms around like you’re on acid at a rave. Best way to get stung. And trigger everyone else in the vicinity.

Just treat them as if they’re butterfly’s. Let them land on your hand. Softly brush them away from your face. Wipe them onto your finger gently if they’re on your glass or shirt. Bring them up to yore face and watch them clean themselves of the sticky liquid. The odds of getting stung are minuscule. If I had a kid that was interested in nature, I’d pass the wasp from my finger to theirs. And a whole world might be opened.

 

[PoppyD]

Wow dad. You’re on a right rant tonight aren’t you. I’d got lots to say. But you kinda said it all now and made me pointless. I’ll stick up for you in the snake rant threads.

My generation sucks. That Greta goober says how dare you to all the old people. But her and my generation care even less about nature, rubbish and the environment. It is true. Lets pave paradise and put up a data centre.

 

[Broch]

Wow dad. You’re on a right rant tonight aren’t you. I’d got lots to say. But you kinda said it all now and made me pointless. I’ll stick up for you in the snake rant threads.

My generation sucks. That Greta goober says how dare you to all the old people. But her and my generation care even less about nature, rubbish and the environment. It is true. Lets pave paradise and put up a data centre.

Yep, I got that impression too - he's not in a good mood is he?

 

[JonathanD]

I am. Just came back from the woods and it’s right cold. Should have taken that ventile up that I bought.

 

[Nice65]

guitars, cheese and wasps.

Dunno if you keep up with Clarksons Farm, but it could be "CORN BUNTING!" at the top of her voice next

Her interest and enthusiasm are great, I have a female friend who won't open a single window in her house in case something flies or crawls in. Even during the heatwaves!

 

[PoppyD]

Sadly, I have quite a serious reaction to wasp stings so I have to be careful.

Could you tell me more about that please. Has it always been bad or has it gotten worse. How many times have you been stung and what species. If you know. And you seem like someone that does or has a good idea.

 

[JonathanD]

Dunno if you keep up with Clarksons Farm, but it could be "CORN BUNTING!" at the top of her voice next

She is actually just like that.

 

[Nice65]

I am. Just came back from the woods and it’s right cold. Should have taken that ventile up that I bought.

View attachment 105194

Poppy sent that off to someone here to cut and resize

 

[JonathanD]

Poppy sent that off to someone here to cut and resize

If she wasn’t 160 miles away, I’d be running to the hallway and checking.

 

[PoppyD]

Tony says he’s not making any more ventiles. But dad’s is massive on me. It’s really nice material. I dont like gortex and Barbours make me really wet and soaking. Even in the cold. What’s a Poppy to do!!!!!

 

[Toddy]

Speak to John Fenna......he has a love of ventile too.

 

[PoppyD]

Thank you Toddy. What is his website?