My childhood memories of wasps (apart from being badly stung once – not the wasp’s fault I hasten to add) include crowds of them jostling for space on windfall apples and causing minor disruptions at picnics. Nowadays I rarely see them in the garden. They are yet another insect in serious decline and we should be worried.
In my first article about wasps I hoped to encourage the reader to better understand the wasp and to learn to live with, if not love, this incredible insect. Their existence is beneficial to our ecosystem and fundamental to the existence of other creatures, including pollinating insects.
Unwanted dinner guests
As well as hunting for live prey, wasps take advantage of any protein freely available, which includes scavenging meat off carcasses. So as far as a wasp is concerned, your leftover barbecue chop is no different from a bit of roadkill. There are other ways to learn to live with wasps rather than killing them in wasp traps.
If wasps turn up uninvited to your dinner, try putting a plate of leftover bits of meat on a separate plate for them a short distance away and hopefully both you and they can dine undisturbed.
The same goes for when wasps switch their diet to sweeter things later in the summer. As well as feasting on ripe fruit, they are also attracted to sugary substances such as drinks and jam, potentially disrupting that nice afternoon tea in the garden.
Trying to give a wasp the brush-off with a swatting hand is the worst thing to do. In the same way you would be provoked if hit, such behaviour only serves to provoke them and increase the risk of being stung. So instead, try putting a bit of jam or something else sweet on a plate a few feet away. I find it invariably lures them away. After all, the wasp just wants to eat, the same as you.
Predator becomes prey
As well as being important predators, social wasps are themselves prey to other creatures. Badgers Meles meles will dig up wasp nests and eat the larvae and, as in the photo, revealing the intricate paper structure. One of our rarest breeding birds of prey, the Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus, specialises in eating the larvae of wasps and hornets.
Several insects are reliant on wasps as they lay their eggs in their nests. The widespread but uncommon Wasp Nest Beetle Metoecus paradoxus is a parasite within the nests of both the Common and German Wasp.
The larvae of hoverflies in the genus Volucella develop in wasp nests where they feed on detritus in the nest and also on wasp larvae. These include our largest hoverflies which are important pollinators; they cannot exist without wasps.
Four of the five UK species of Volucella hoverfly develop in wasp nests, while the fifth actually exploits bumblebees. These hoverflies mimic their hosts. Volucella bombylans is a hairy bumblebee mimic while the others have black and yellow bands to resemble wasps, such as Volucella inanis shown here. The odd exception is Volucella pellucens, which is black and white and really doesn’t resemble a wasp at all.
Live and let live
I find it awful that if you type anything to do with wasps into an internet search engine the first thing that comes up will be a list of companies that will come out and kill wasps and destroy nests. Equally bad are the wasp traps for sale that are hung up outdoors and indiscriminately attract and kill a wide range of insects including hoverflies and other pollinators. Yes, there are occasions when a wasp nest is located somewhere that could be hazardous to people but in the majority of cases they shouldn’t be a problem if left alone.
A wasp sting can be painful to experience and, in rare instances, potentially dangerous. On the odd occasion that I have been stung, it has been extremely painful with rapid swelling of the affected area. Luckily this is alleviated by the immediate application of antihistamine cream which I habitually carry around during prime wasp season just in case of a sting.
For a very small number of people the reaction can be much more severe, particularly if they are stung in the mouth or throat when it can be life threatening. Because of this, some people do need to be more vigilant around wasps than others, but that shouldn’t mean that all wasp nests should be indiscriminately destroyed.
Wasps play an important role as pollinators; in the autumn it is not uncommon to find a good numbers of wasps on ivy flowers, helping to pollinate them and provide a feast of ivy berries for a variety of birds over the winter months. With a queen wasp having the potential to lay between 2,000 and 6,000 eggs, the destruction of a single nest at any stage is potentially eradicating a vast number of pollinators which are, with insect decline, desperately needed.
Give wasps a chance
Hearteningly, I heard tell of someone who had a wasp nest by their back door and instead of having the wasps destroyed, they simply opted not to use their back door for the rest of the summer until the wasp colony naturally finished. When we had wasps nesting in our cavity wall, we found that they would fly in through the holes in the airbrick in the bathroom at night when the light was put on. The simple expedient of taping a piece of old net curtain over the airbrick stopped them – although they still woke up and buzzed rather loudly whenever the light was put on.
In Britain, we are living in a critically nature-depleted country with fragmented and degraded natural habitats. The war on wasps is another symptom of the disconnect with nature that so many people have – a constant case of destroy first and ask questions later, if at all.
So please give the wasp a chance. Chinese farmers are already reported to be pollinating crops by hand. Wasps are not a nuisance but a crucial part of ecosystems, pollinating our food sources and providing food for other creatures. It’s time to value all insects and learn to live and let live.
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