To set the scene, I've been in a quandry about destroying some wasp nests at my place - one was at the entrance to the orchard bit and another was at the bottom of the front lawn.
I was in a quandry for a few reasons:
1) I quite like them. They don't really cause any hassle this time of year. Wasps kill garden pests and feed them to the grubs in the nest. The grubs, in turn, secrete a sugary fluid that the adult wasps feed on. It's only later in the year when the grubs have grown up and left the nest that wasps start craving sugar and begin to 'hassle' us.
2) I needed to cut the grass. The orchard bit has been left to grow wild apart from where I cut out a path around it, but the path was getting long and the noise and vibration of the mower would almost certainly agitate them into attacking me, especially as the nest was on the pathway. The front lawn definitely needed cutting too.
3) We couldn't justify the cost of getting a pest controller out.
4) Dealing with an underground nest is a bit different to dealing with one above ground and the most likely method for dealing with it would be to put poison powder down at night time.
5) I didn't want to lay down any poison because I had a hunch about what might happen.........
So, yesterday evening I went out for a look at the nest in the orchard to find that I was right and the job had been done for me by Mr Brock.
There was a nice big hole in the ground with dirt scuffed up and a few pieces of papery nest and a couple of sorry looking wapsies, perhaps reminiscing on the happier times of their great colony.
Brock certainly had his feed of fat, juicy wasp grubs and I did a bit of 'obvious' tracking (not too difficult considering the length of the grasses) to see his entry and exit points and was delighted to see that another wasp nest, that I didn't know was there, had also been ransacked. I took some pictures on my phone and will upload them at some point.
People bang on about Honey badgers being hard as nails but our own ones are pretty damned tough too and a lot better natured.
Just the front lawn to go now and this time they'll be forgiven for wrecking it.
I was in a quandry for a few reasons:
1) I quite like them. They don't really cause any hassle this time of year. Wasps kill garden pests and feed them to the grubs in the nest. The grubs, in turn, secrete a sugary fluid that the adult wasps feed on. It's only later in the year when the grubs have grown up and left the nest that wasps start craving sugar and begin to 'hassle' us.
2) I needed to cut the grass. The orchard bit has been left to grow wild apart from where I cut out a path around it, but the path was getting long and the noise and vibration of the mower would almost certainly agitate them into attacking me, especially as the nest was on the pathway. The front lawn definitely needed cutting too.
3) We couldn't justify the cost of getting a pest controller out.
4) Dealing with an underground nest is a bit different to dealing with one above ground and the most likely method for dealing with it would be to put poison powder down at night time.
5) I didn't want to lay down any poison because I had a hunch about what might happen.........
So, yesterday evening I went out for a look at the nest in the orchard to find that I was right and the job had been done for me by Mr Brock.
There was a nice big hole in the ground with dirt scuffed up and a few pieces of papery nest and a couple of sorry looking wapsies, perhaps reminiscing on the happier times of their great colony.
Brock certainly had his feed of fat, juicy wasp grubs and I did a bit of 'obvious' tracking (not too difficult considering the length of the grasses) to see his entry and exit points and was delighted to see that another wasp nest, that I didn't know was there, had also been ransacked. I took some pictures on my phone and will upload them at some point.
People bang on about Honey badgers being hard as nails but our own ones are pretty damned tough too and a lot better natured.
Just the front lawn to go now and this time they'll be forgiven for wrecking it.
