Wasps in my loft !!!!

[alanesq]

I would guess this is a very common occurrence:

Yesterday I went into my loft and was very worried to see a strange golf ball sized structure in the corner - after looking on the internet I decided it was a wasp nest. Sure enough, after watching for a while I spotted a wasp go in/out (well it looks like a wasp to me - I am no expert?)

Every web site I visited told me this was a very serious problem and could well be life threatening - I need to get the nest destroyed by a professional asap before this disaster escalates out of control............

being vegan I am always very reluctant to kill anything so I carried on searching and eventually found a few sites which had a different opinion (it's not easy to find them)
e.g. http://www.keele.ac.uk/university/na...cles/wasps.htm
and the conclusion I have come to now is that they are unlikely to be any problem at all, and if left alone the nest will be abandoned at the end of the year and they will not re use it

So I m just going to leave them to get on with their life (and maybe not go in the loft again until winter)

So I thought it would be a good idea to post my experience here for two reasons:
1. I am now interested to find out more about them and watch what they get up to
2. Give people a chance to let me know if this really is a big mistake after all

I have set up a camera (although a very poor quality one) and here is a resulting video clip
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.bl...am/30-5-10.avi

btw - I am based near Nottingham (u.k.)

[The Woodman]

Good morning alanesq and a warm welcome to WAB.

Some of my work takes me into roof voids and I encounter many wasp nests throughout the season. I posted a thread a couple of days ago when I found several wasp nests in bat boxes I was checking.

You have nothing to fear from wasps as long as you give them a little respect. In my opinion you don't have a serious problem at all and I guess the "life threatening" aspect comes in when someone has a medical condition which might be exacerbated when stung.

The nest size will depend on the species, it might be a solitary wasp who's building your small nest or it might be the start of a larger social wasp nest.

Also, bear in mind that the advice given from many websites is driven by the commercial aspect. I've just typed "wasp nest" into Google and all on the first page bar the Wiki entry were for pest control firms.

When I lived in Somerset, back in the hot summer of 1976 I had a hornet nest in the shed. It got so large that it was protruding outside the slates. They used to come in the house at night if I left the window open and light on and crash about like demented sparrows but I never got stung.

Like all living creatures they have interesting lives and all I would suggest is that if they are not causing a direct nuisance, leave them be and watch developments.

There some wasp experts on WAB and I'm sure you'll get more views!

[healfdan]

Alanesq

The advice given by the woodman is sound but you might like to identify where the wasps enter your loft. In some bungalows where the loft is not that far above the garden, you may find their comings and goings a trifle intimidating when you are working in the garden. Also remember that by late summer the wasps become a nuisance, as they investigate for sweet food sources. If you have a large house then these considerations may not apply.
On a more positive note, when I have been working in lofts I have come across many wasps nest that never developed beyond golf ball or tennis ball size. In short abandoned at an early stage. So all things considered I hope that you can live with your wasps but if you do decide to get rid of the nest, do it now while it is not too active. The larger the nest the more active the wasps become and a good point to remember is that a few guard wasps will remain just a short distance from the nest and respond very aggresively when danger threatens.

Healfdan

[alanesq]

Thanks for the replies

Sounds like it could become a problem at a later time
it's a catch 22 - I wont know if it will be a problem until it's too late ?

[mike-c]

I really don't think you will have a problem. We had very similar nests in our loft over a period of years (coincidentally, also in Nottinghamshire) and never had a problem with them.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by alanesq

Sounds like it could become a problem at a later time

As mentioned earlier, any problem may occur late in the summer. My understanding is this:

Wasp grubs need protein to develop and build their bodies. Adult wasps don't need protein, because their bodies were built at the grub stage. Instead they need sugars for the energy to fly. The adult wasps take insect food back to the grubs and the grubs exude a sugary substance (in the same way as aphids) that the adults feed on. Towards the end of summer the queen ceases laying eggs and when the last brood of grubs hatch, there are no grubs to supply sugars to the adults. The adults then need to forage for sugars themselves and by doing so often create a nuisance.

If wasps become a problem, I usually give them something so they don't have to pester me, usually an almost empty jar of jam on an outside windowsill. If on a picnic, I'll put a blob of (say) jam nearby.

Jim

[alanesq]

Thanks; that is just the sort of advice/info I am looking for

My limited experience of this type of thing is that any contact with the local wildlife and peoples instant response is to try and kill them all without any thought or attempt to understand them.
When something as simple as this and the problem is solved :-)

I once had ants in my kitchen and everyone I mentioned it to told me what a very serious situation this is and I will really have my work cut out trying to solve it - with lots of advice on how I need to find the nest and destroy every ant etc. etc.
In the end I just watched where they were going, found how they were getting in and blocked the hole - end of problem

btw - It was quiet amusing actually, as there was a constant line to and back from my sugar bowl with sugar being carried off across my garden :-)

[alanesq]

It is now Aug, So far I have not even seen a wasp around the house or anything
the nest has increased in size a lot since when I first found it, so they have been busy over the summer

I can not see any movement (but I don't want to get too close)
just wondering at what point is the nest likely to be finished with?

[Gill Catton]

I love wasps brilliant little animals - ok not so good if you are allergic and they do get drunk and dis-orderly (but that makes them like us and I quite like that about them!) I find is interesting how a fly will batt up against the same window all day every day but a wasp generally will try a couple of closed windows and then remember where it came in and leave in the same way.

I'm not vegan but don't like killing things for no good reason,

I was stung a couple of years ago by a wasp and it struck me than it was actually not that much more painful than stubbing your toe in the night and you don't see people setting fire to their furniture to prevent further stubbings do you....People are way over-hysterical about wasps I think.

[John_M]

Never had them in the loft, but I had a substantial nest at the bottom of my garden. The wasps were no problem at all, and I had a constant stream of wasps flying up to my back door to collect wood. They would quite happily sit on the softwood door surround, shaving off little cylinders of wood, quite fascinating to watch, less than a foot from my head, and then fly back to the nest . When they started to come into the kitchen, then, as Jim said, a jar with a bit of jam in it satisfies their sugar craving, and everyone is happy. We've told the kids, if a wasp comes too close, just to sit still, and it will soon go away; so far no stings. Wasps have no reason to sting you unless you scare them. Live and let live.