Covering Note.

[Wayland]

One of the minor annoyances of Summer camping is the number of Kamikaze flying insects that consider an open drink to be an irresistible opportunity. At the BushMoot, the wasps tend to be a particular problem.

I usually attempt to frustrate their attempts with something like a tin plate, but spying an unused scrap of plywood in the workshop the other day, I decided to do something a bit more purposeful about it.

An hour or so of tinkering later, mostly waiting for glue to dry, here is the result.

 

[Wildgoose]

Very nice, I will admit I was expecting some sort of wood/brass/leather fly swat type device.

 

[Wayland]

I dislike wasps but on the whole if they don't bother me I'd rather let them get on with what they are doing.

I gather they serve a useful function of some sort.

 

[Mesquite]

I was lucky enough to pick up a pewter tankard with hinged lid at a bootfair to solve that problem

 

[Wayland]

I have a German Beer Stein with a hinged lid but it's more sentimental that practical.

I used to have an enamelled coffee pot with a loose lid that was the perfect size for my usual mug but without thinking, I parted with it when trying to thin down my equipment a bit. Didn't realise my mistake until I needed the lid again.

This is a bit of a replacement for that but covering a range of different sized vessels.

 

[JonathanD]

I dislike wasps but on the whole if they don't bother me I'd rather let them get on with what they are doing.

I gather they serve a useful function of some sort.

They certainly do, they eat mozzies and midges.

 

[Robson Valley]

We can buy 6-packs of plastic mesh screens that snap-fit over a drink can.
Not even as fine mesh as a window screen.
You can drink or pour right through it and the yellow jacket wasps can't hide in the can.
Even worse here are the black & white "bald-faced hornets." Most people should seek treatment if one of them drills you. Last one I got had flown into a box of crackers. I reached in without looking. ZAP!

 

[Wayland]

They certainly do, they eat mozzies and midges.

Not fast enough though.

 

[JonathanD]

Not fast enough though.

This is true. We need more wasps

 

[Silverclaws2]

It always was when drinking in the beer garden the beer mat had a more important use as a wasp proof lid. But yeah the lidded beer jugs are the right idea.

 

[Robson Valley]

We can't grill meat outdoors and eat outdoors in mid-late summer.
The yellowjacket wasps expect to eat all meat. Grill or BBQ outside but the food must come indoors for safety's sake.

 

[Wayland]

I was stung, and nearly killed by a wasp when I was just a few days old. I don't consciously remember it of course but I've always had an irrational fear of the blighters.

I gather the late summer problems come when the queen abandons the nest leaving the drones to fend for themselves. They seek the easiest food sources like sugary drinks.

 

[Toddy]

We've got a byke in our loft. We're trying to poison it just now. I hate doing it, but I more hate the wasps in the house. This one is behind the vent pipe and tucked in a tight spot near the eaves. Blooming awkward to get to and only accessible when lying down. Not an ideal position trapped like that next to a wasps byke.
Normally we just wait until it's quiet, wrap a paper bag over the byke and cut it off the rafter, then throw it out over into the woods, but this time we can't do that so it needs killed.

I like your covers Gary I'm using the wee china saucer things on my mug when I sit outside just now, but your wooden ones really look right

M

 

[nitrambur]

We can buy 6-packs of plastic mesh screens that snap-fit over a drink can.
Not even as fine mesh as a window screen.
You can drink or pour right through it and the yellow jacket wasps can't hide in the can.
Even worse here are the black & white "bald-faced hornets." Most people should seek treatment if one of them drills you. Last one I got had flown into a box of crackers. I reached in without looking. ZAP!

These sound useful, where can I order them?

 

[Robson Valley]

I have not bothered to look for ages. I expect that they are a seasonal stock along with plastic lawn chairs and so on.
The two big hardware store chains to try first are Home Depot and Home Hardware.
They're the goofy sorts of things that turn up in the end-of-aisle racks in the grocery stores.

A circle of plastic window screen and a stout rubber band?

 

[nitrambur]

Nothing on google and those stores don't exist outside of continental America, not many plastic window screens here either

 

[Minotaur]

I hate them with a passion so jars with holes and beer are my weapon of choice.

 

[Wayland]

In places where they are a problem, like the Bushmoot usually, I tend to set up wasp traps with bottles and cheap cider.

Adding a little sugar helps too.

 

[Mesquite]

In places where they are a problem, like the Bushmoot usually, I tend to set up wasp traps with bottles and cheap cider.

Adding a little sugar helps too.

Cheap cider??? My cider was defintely not cheap

 

[Wayland]

It was cheap for me...

Normally I use left overs but didn't seem to have any this year.