A.S.B.O's for wasps

[aestarte]

Hi,this is probably happening all the time but it's the first time i've ever seen it. I was sat in the garden yesterday afternoon, watching the bees on my passionflower when this wasp gets in on the show. It appeared to be looking specifically for a particular thing and it confirmed this when it attacked a spider for its prey. The spider just backed off and the wasp went on to ferosiously eat what the spider had just wrapped for later. The thing that had me messmorised (I seriously apologise for the bad spelling) was this wasp then went on to attack about six more spiders, knocking them out the webs and helping him/herself to whatever was in the webs. All I could think was give that wasp an a.s.b.o the spiders looked so p'd off when they went back to thier webs. I'm sorry but it did make me chuckle a bit to see all these abseiling spiders. I knew wasps were visious little things but I've never actually seen them in action like that one.

[goosey]

I have never witnessed wasps behaving like this - how odd! What is even odder is, me feeling sorry for spiders! I am just going to toddle off and check my temperature - I must be sickening for something .

[Gill Catton]

I find it quite fascinating! I was staring at a little solitary bee once on a flower when a wasp buzzed in under my nose and took it! This one has obviously developed a preference for 'fast food' that someone else has killed and wrapped for them - how ingenious!!

Maybe its even learned not to try to kill the spider as this removes its ready supply of fast food - again fascinating that maybe an insect is capable of deducing such a thing...

I love wasps I think they're soooo interesting

[juliejam]

what ive noticed since ive had a Wasps nest at the bottom on the garden is the lack of Insects in general ...I appreciate help with keeping the Greenfly away , but it looks like everything else is gone...I have seen them attracking Bee's to move them on from some of my flowers..You can hear them in the Sycamore trees from morning to night....
I wonder when the nest will become empty ..Ive heard they leave around October time...then maybe my garden will get back to normal again...

So far Ive left them alone and they have done the same ...saying that Ive just finished mowing the gass this upsets them quite alot shame..

Julie

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by juliejam

what ive noticed since ive had a Wasps nest at the bottom on the garden is the lack of Insects in general ...I appreciate help with keeping the Greenfly away , but it looks like everything else is gone...I have seen them attracking Bee's to move them on from some of my flowers..You can hear them in the Sycamore trees from morning to night....
I wonder when the nest will become empty ..Ive heard they leave around October time...then maybe my garden will get back to normal again...

So far Ive left them alone and they have done the same ...saying that Ive just finished mowing the gass this upsets them quite alot shame..

Julie

I think its the frosts that kill them off so when they begin again the nest will die too.

re mowing I rmember in the back of my mind hearing somewhere (goodness knows where!!) that they don't like vibration or at least that they react to vibration so that could be why

[eucera]

And today I saw a worker hornet grab a regular wasp... fillet it and then fly off to her nest.

It's a bug eat bug world out there.

Stealing food from spider's webs is good practice. Its efficient, doesn't use up too much energy, and saves on venom. What opportunism!

[Wild-Woman]

One day, I'll actually have my camera ready to get shots of an interesting bit of wasp behaviour I have witnessed twice now. We have a large pond on the garden and the wasps come to it to 'drink' I suppose. Well twice now, a wasp has flown in over the surface clutching a smallish, struggling spider and dropped it in. It then, flies to the edge for a moment, then returns to re-capture the spider before flying off with it. Do you think they are trying to drown it, or subdue it before making a meal of it? I will say that the spiders fight back but the wasps had chosen ones smaller than themselves. It's incredible to watch and I hope I can be there at the right moment if it occurs again.

Eucera-it's the wasps from the nest in our extension I told you about.

Jules

[Cazzie]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

One day, I'll actually have my camera ready to get shots of an interesting bit of wasp behaviour I have witnessed twice now. We have a large pond on the garden and the wasps come to it to 'drink' I suppose. Well twice now, a wasp has flown in over the surface clutching a smallish, struggling spider and dropped it in. It then, flies to the edge for a moment, then returns to re-capture the spider before flying off with it. Do you think they are trying to drown it, or subdue it before making a meal of it? I will say that the spiders fight back but the wasps had chosen ones smaller than themselves. It's incredible to watch and I hope I can be there at the right moment if it occurs again.

Eucera-it's the wasps from the nest in our extension I told you about.

Jules

I've witnessed a few wasps 'drinking' from the wetland of my new wildlife pond, so I'll keep an eye out to see if they're doing what yours are - how bizarre!

[gez]

Ive taken a great shot last yr.while watching wasps rob webs of greenfly etc one wasp got rather close to a big old spider which very quickly entangledit up. the wasp did not stand a chance
though ive uploaded approx 40 pics on here i cant upload any at the mo as its says file either to big to small or file invalid, this is a real pain as i have some great shots i would like to share including my new kingfisher & sparrowhawk pics. i will try to speak to a mod see if i can sort this out.

[dampsock]

Apparently (and I have tried this successfully but not under controlled laboratory conditions) wasps don't like the metal that makes the 5 centime piece of the Swiss currency. If you scatter a few around the table it keeps them away. Good if you don't like wasps eating your jam sandwiches.