Where have all the wasps gone?(not missed!)

gurramok

I haven't seen a single wasp all year, have they all been extinct?(hopefully)

I've sunbathed quite a bit this week in the garden and yet not one has attempted to attack me or flown by.

Have seen a few hard working bees(fair play) but anyone know what's happened to the wasps?

For the record way back in the year 2001, I must have slaughtered about 100 wasps that summer, thank me later

Archeron

BUUURRP. Excuse me....

castletownman

Come to think of it, I've yet to be attacked by a wasp yet either

Fecking midgets midges would kill you though.

Tom_Cruise

Most of them have migrated to Oz and the few that remained are pollinating and making nests.

Evolution1

It's great they are gone . I've only seen the odd small one and they didn't make it. On the plus side the bumble bees are increasing in numbers

Aka Ishur

Its august when ye start seeing them lads...

Evolution1

Aka Ishur wrote: »

Its august when ye start seeing them lads...

Usually here in may . Always had a nest to spray .

Ruu

Building me an underground lair and doing my bidding!

gurramok

Aka Ishur wrote: »

Its august when ye start seeing them lads...

Where can I commit genocide on the nests of the scum of the insect world? (pre-emptive action against IMD..insects of mass destruction)

C.K Dexter Haven

gurramok wrote: »

For the record way back in the year 2001, I must have slaughtered about 100 wasps that summer, thank me later

So, you're the one responsible for the increase in butterflies in my garden:mad:


Oh, sorry. Thanks

holystungun9

I so prefer when people call them waps. Takes the sting out of their image.

Gone the same way as the bees, buzzed off, feckin agricultural insecticides!

jprboy

Bumble bee arrived in our office d'other day.

Struggled desperately against lowest pane of glass to get back out.

Got plastic cup, piece of cardboard, executed capture and released almost immediately.

Pollinate my pretty, pollinate

C.K Dexter Haven

jprboy wrote: »

Bumble bee arrived in our office d'other day.

Stuggled desperately against lowest pane of glass to get back out.

Got plastic cup, piece of cardboard, executed capture and released almost immediately.

Pollinate my pretty, pollinate

Knight this person please, someone

Candy_Girl

I always thought it was around the end of August start of September that they came out in force?

Evolution1

Bumble bees are fine leave them be

MurdyWurdy

We had a giant one in the house the other day. Husband tried to remove him using a saucepan and place mat for ages before finally succeeding.

It would have been very amusing to watch if I hadn't wanted the fecking thing out of the house ASAP - hate wasps

Ann22

I haven't seen any either. Flies are driving me nuts though, the dogs go barmy when I'm trying to swat them. When I leave the back door open they all buzz in and head straight for the utility room where the dog bowls are, I hate the thoughts of them laying maggoty eggs in them. I hung one of those sticky things on the ceiling and when one landed on it I felt so sorry for it, struggling desperately to escape:(.

michellie

One flew into my house today and then started bouncing off the patio door to get back out, looked like he had muscles on his legs. Frightened the life out of me!

becost

Where ever they've gone, I think ladybirds have followed. Haven't seen one of those in about 20 years.

1ZRed

I'd take wasps over flies any day! Hate fucking flies, wasps don't bother me in the slightest bit

copacetic

Ruubot2 wrote: »

Building me an underground lair and doing my bidding!

Wow, Ruu! *waves* I'm probably way late, but great to see you back...

rossie1977

destroyed a nest they were busy building in the shed a few weeks back so they haven't gone anywhere

becost

becost wrote: »

Where ever they've gone, I think ladybirds have followed. Haven't seen one of those in about 20 years.

There was one on my beer can on the beach last week. Oddest thing was that we were about 100m from the nearest visible plant.

Renegade Mechanic

As bad as they are, they are very very needed. Im trying to remember who said if the population of bees and wasps were to decline sufficiently, the ecosystem would collapse (Einstein?)
Anyway I hope theyre wrong because wasps are few and far between and bees are nearly as bad. The pollen on biofuel plants is poisonous to them as far as I know but stand to be corrected on this.

1ZRed

Evolution1 wrote: »

Bumble bees are fine leave them be

Bumble bees are like the socially awkward, obese kid with glasses that means no harm to anyone.

They're ridiculously shite at flying to the point where rocks nearly have a better chance of staying in the air, but every time you see them you can't help but go nawwwww! :pac:

LETHAL LADY

I have not read this thread but in my experience wasps don't turn up until later and then they hang around bins waiting to sting the **** out of you.

EoghanIRL

It m should be where are all the hairy mollies gone . There used to be loads of them . I haven't seen one in ages.

kneemos

gurramok wrote: »

I haven't seen a single wasp all year, have they all been extinct?(hopefully)

I've sunbathed quite a bit this week in the garden and yet not one has attempted to attack me or flown by.

Have seen a few hard working bees(fair play) but anyone know what's happened to the wasps?

For the record way back in the year 2001, I must have slaughtered about 100 wasps that summer, thank me later

A lot of them have been blown off course from their normal migratory path this year because of the position of the jet stream,northern Spain is the breeding ground for most of the wasps we see here in the summer.

Laneyh

gurramok wrote: »

I haven't seen a single wasp all year, have they all been extinct?(hopefully)

I've sunbathed quite a bit this week in the garden and yet not one has attempted to attack me or flown by.

Have seen a few hard working bees(fair play) but anyone know what's happened to the wasps?

For the record way back in the year 2001, I must have slaughtered about 100 wasps that summer, thank me later [/QUOTE

I've seen a small amount. They're more prevalent around August time so give it a few weeks

FanadMan

gurramok wrote: »

I haven't seen a single wasp all year, have they all been extinct?(hopefully)

I've sunbathed quite a bit this week in the garden and yet not one has attempted to attack me or flown by.

Have seen a few hard working bees(fair play) but anyone know what's happened to the wasps?

For the record way back in the year 2001, I must have slaughtered about 100 wasps that summer, thank me later

You're lucky OP! About 5 hours ago I saw one (in my panicked view) about twice the size of a bumble bee in my neighbours conservatory. I ran and barely stopped to type this. Hate the damn things! They should be wiped from the face of the earth as soon as possible!

kryogen

The wasps are most likely heading back to their home planet before the destruction of this one, that's what my money is on anyway

dodderangler

Wasps and bees don't bother me ......but see them fcukin horseflies. Fcuking hell.
Was out walking other day on some farm lad with the dog and these ba5tards felt like they had knives and forks as they latched on to me skin!!!!
Kill em all!!!!!

Papa_Bear

They've emmigrated because they can't get jobs.....

Mully_2011

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

As bad as they are, they are very very needed. Im trying to remember who said if the population of bees and wasps were to decline sufficiently, the ecosystem would collapse (Einstein?)
Anyway I hope theyre wrong because wasps are few and far between and bees are nearly as bad. The pollen on biofuel plants is poisonous to them as far as I know but stand to be corrected on this.

Yeap very much so. You lose the bees you lose alot of biodiversity and alot of are food. The relationship between the bee and the flower is a symbiotic one meaning one cannot survive without the other. In a nut shell the flower requires the bee to pollinate and the bee requires the flower for nectar. Bee numbers worldwide are in decline because of modern farming practices which prevents the growth of wild flowers.

The function of the wasp is that of a predator. Typically preying on pest insects although few species of wasp act as pollinators aswell.

Napper Hawkins

My eternal nemesis, been stung at the very least 6 or 7 times in my life by those little flying daggers and I remember each and every one. Late August/early September is when we're usually graced by their presence. Probably the only living creature I have no problem killing. That said, I'll still give them one chance to **** off away from me but if the hint isn't taken then all bets are off.

snubbleste

I got stung by a wasp earlier.
It literally flew at me and put a nice big booboo on my arm :mad:
Whhhhy wasp, whhhhy

zcorpian88

I've seen a good few this summer, have seen even more this month, they seem to be more vicious in August, as in flying frantically around my head throughout the month.

Bastards, hate them!

DanWall

Plenty here in West Cork, they keep flying in the front and out the back of the house, you would think they would have copped on by now that they cannot get through glass

Sofiztikated

http://imgur.com/cf6My

littleteapot

My poor little dog got stung by a wasp about an hour ago. Poor little fecker doesn't know what's happened to him

nacho libre

Ah yes the evil horsefly, i've been bitten by them a few time. they're stealth attackers too, you don't realise they're there until it's too late. i've never had any problem with wasps.

Elbaston

They haven't gone away you know.

snubbleste

littleteapot wrote: »

My poor little dog got stung by a wasp about an hour ago. Poor little fecker doesn't know what's happened to him

Why don't you explain it to him through interpretative dance?

SEPT 23 1989

I got stung in the mouth by one of these b@stards last week:mad:

was out cutting the grass and decided to have a beer to cool down,took a few sips and went off to do something else came back and took another drink from the can,felt something going into my mouth and assumed it was the ring pull

it wasnt,it was a wasp and the pain was shocking, i will never leave a can unattended again:(

crosstownk

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

i will never leave a can unattended again:(

It serves you right for leaving the golden nectar unattended.

Same thing happens in most night clubs. Scum robbing the beer.

Smeggy

Funny enough I haven't seen a single wasp this year so far until today... A girl in the local shop told me she got stung by one then I went out to my car and there was one buzzing around the handle.. Then came home and there was one in my kitchen

Triangular

Disappearing-wasp-population-in-Ireland-worries-experts

Wasp population in Ireland has experienced a huge decline this year possibly due to to last summer's inclement weather, say experts.

“Last year was so wet that wasps did very poorly. Low numbers this year are a carryover as few queens went into hibernation," said Alan Stubbs, from the Buglife Conservation charity. However other reasons may not be known.

“Social wasps, or what I call jampot wasps, normally undergo cycles of good and poor years. We happen to be in an exceptional low year at the moment.”

According to the Irish Examiner, the wasp population depends on queens who establish colonies and lay eggs in underground nests. On average, a nest can contain up to 5,000 wasps at the the end of a summer. Populations can rise to up around 10,000 during very hot summers.

However, a period of hot and then cold springtime weather can be detrimental to the colonies if the queen comes out of hibernation too early only to be hit by a blast of cold weather.

“The queen needs good weather to found a new colony in the spring. Only when the colony has built up strong numbers of workers can it afford to feed larger grubs which become males and new queens," explained Stubbs.

“After mating, only the new queens survive through to the next year. The remaining workers perish when winter sets in as there are hardly any insects to feed on and it is too cold to fly.”

Annoying little creatures. I watched a documentary before with a lot of worried scientists claiming that mobile's / 3g signal's and cordless house phones have messed up bee's sense of direction and they literally can't find their way around like they use to.

science/article/2013-03/something-killing-half-americas-bees

cell-phones-are-killing-bees/

pharmaton

One wrecking my buzz when having coffee earlier, as soon as I ignored them he went for a swim in a half empty mug of hotstuff. I felt bad watching him doing the backstroke

Paramite Pie

We have a bee nest in our garden this summer... surprisingly docile bees, didn't even mind my dad going over the nest with the lawn mower... didn't bother us at all.

We also had quite a few wasps invading our home... those were much more aggressive and many were killed.:)

NuckingFacker

One of the little bewinged baxters shot in the window of the van and stung me on the neck on saturday - having not been stung for years, the feckin pain was unbelievable. That afternoon, the youngest was out in one of the fields on his scrambler and one went down his T-shirt and stung him twice on the ribs. Much whinging was endured by Mrs F that day.

Tops for me though was driving an open-frame cat bulldozer years ago, no cab, I dozed a wasp nest in a tree stump without noticing..I started noticing quite rapidly when the whole world became wasp-filled and angry. I jumped off and legged it, getting stung more than was funny times and left the dozer run itself out of fuel idling. There were no voulenteers to go down and turn it off. No-one fancied going down to put fuel in it and get it back the next day either, or the next.. they're aggressive little gits when you p*ss them off.