Wasps at night... in October?

Billy86

I wasn't sure where to put this, so this seems the most fitting place.

Two nights back the bathroom window was left open upstairs, and at 6am yesterday morning we found about 15 wasps in the bathroom and hallway. Sprayed them all dead, but it was very strange all the same.

Today the bathroom window was closed, I just got up a half hour ago and went out the back for my morning coffee and cigarette. So I opened the back door (right below the bathroom window), put my coffee on the ledge and lit the cigarette. When I went to pick up the coffee I noticed two wasps nearby it, so I moved to the back of the garden to enjoy my vices in peace. Up I looked to the bathroom window, and at least a dozen more were hovering right by the bathroom window (only light in the house that was on).

I've got a job interview in a few hours and it's still dark so there's not much I can do about it until this afternoon, but does anyone have any ideas? The drain pipe for the gutter runs right by that window so I'm guessing there must be a nest there or somesuch, but it just seems very, very strange to me for this time of year. There are a few plants and whatnot in the back garden but no wasps near them, so I don't think that is what is attracting them.

I also did a quick google search and apparently though they don't sleep wasps don't fly at night... but hornets do! I have to say that's quite worrying, just curious if anyone has any ideas what the deal here might be, I thought they nearly all die off in August/September?

Any advise or even insight into what these might be would be much appreciated, thanks!

smacl

Sounds like you have a wasps nest very near by, possibly in the eaves near the bathroom window. While they're decent pollinators and pest controllers, if they're that near the house you may want to get them removed / destroyed.

Marhay70

smacl wrote: »

Sounds like you have a wasps nest very near by, possibly in the eaves near the bathroom window. While they're decent pollinators and pest controllers, if they're that near the house you may want to get them removed / destroyed.

Yes, or worse, in the attic. Wasps have been few and far between this year and they do do a lot of good in the garden but you don't want them as house guests, they can add to the size of their nest every year. Take a look at this.



https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857870/stunned-pest-controllers-find-huge-wasps-nest-in-a-loft-containing-up-to-10000-stinging-insects/

doolox

I recently found one in an old car tools bag that I had left in a shed. Luckily there were no wasps left in it but beautifully constructed papier mache like structure and cells like a bees hive but made of paper. It was about the size of a golf ball so not an established hive.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's the time of year when hives are dispensed with and swarms move about. The light attracted them. They will be gone in another few weeks, except for hibernating Queens.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Marhay70 wrote: »

Yes, or worse, in the attic. Wasps have been few and far between this year and they do do a lot of good in the garden but you don't want them as house guests, they can add to the size of their nest every year. Take a look at this.



https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857870/stunned-pest-controllers-find-huge-wasps-nest-in-a-loft-containing-up-to-10000-stinging-insects/

Wasps do NOT use a nest more than one year. Bees may do so on occasion but never wasps.

Marhay70

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

Wasps do NOT use a nest more than one year. Bees may do so on occasion but never wasps.

To be fair, that's not exactly what I said although I confess I phrased it badly.
Wasps die off in winter but if an optimum site is found, surviving queens will use that site again and again and with optimum conditions comes optimum survival rates leading to larger and larger nests.
I had a huge nest in a rarely used garden shed which, for safety's sake, I decided to have professionally removed, the following year I had another nest in almost exactly the same location.

learn_more

Marhay70 wrote: »

Yes, or worse, in the attic. Wasps have been few and far between this year and they do do a lot of good in the garden but you don't want them as house guests, they can add to the size of their nest every year. Take a look at this.



https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857870/stunned-pest-controllers-find-huge-wasps-nest-in-a-loft-containing-up-to-10000-stinging-insects/

OMG ! That has totally freaked me out !

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Marhay70 wrote: »

To be fair, that's not exactly what I said although I confess I phrased it badly.
Wasps die off in winter but if an optimum site is found, surviving queens will use that site again and again and with optimum conditions comes optimum survival rates leading to larger and larger nests.
I had a huge nest in a rarely used garden shed which, for safety's sake, I decided to have professionally removed, the following year I had another nest in almost exactly the same location.

They may use a site but they do not use the same nest nor build on an old one either. Size of swarm dictates the size of the nest, not age.

I know, semantics, but just for accuracy.

marask

Same happened two days ago, within an hour 8 wasps flew into the bathroom, but no more since then, I checked for any nests but found no sign..
Wonder what's going on, as there were no wasp probs all summer

Billy86

Yeah, they disappeared after that morning - very odd. Anything to do with our random bout of heat and humidity a few days back maybe?

Thanks for the feedback all the same, guys and girls! Apart from you Marhay!! :mad:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

marask wrote: »

Same happened two days ago, within an hour 8 wasps flew into the bathroom, but no more since then, I checked for any nests but found no sign..
Wonder what's going on, as there were no wasp probs all summer

Billy86 wrote: »

Yeah, they disappeared after that morning - very odd. Anything to do with our random bout of heat and humidity a few days back maybe?

Thanks for the feedback all the same, guys and girls! Apart from you Marhay!! :mad:

As explained, it is the time of year that the hives are abandoned and the swarm moves about until the cold weather kills off all but hibernating queens. They passed your way and moved on to a food source.

fryup

do wasps swarm like bees ??

learn_more

fryup wrote: »

do wasps swarm like bees ??

That's a good question.

I recall living in London during a hot summer walking down a street where I lived that had a few fruit & veg shops along the way.

The whole pavement was infested with wasps for a good few hundred meters. The open fronted fruit&veg shops were infested with wasps all over the produce. I don't know how anyone could have bought anything from those shops.

It went on for a good few weeks. The pavement was littered with dead wasps and scavenging whatever they could find. It was totally gross. Never seen anything like it since.

foxatron

There's a nest of them in my mother's attic. Well not exactly in the attic, they got in under the slates but don't seem to have gotten through the lining. But my question is, if they die off for the year except the queen, will they move back into the attic next year if there's an old nest there? Also does the queen fly off out of the nest next year or does she leave the nest and then hibernate. We actually had one in a bush at the front of my mother's house last year. They just won't piss off.!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

do wasps swarm like bees ??

Only once a year when they are dispersing from the hive.

foxatron wrote: »

There's a nest of them in my mother's attic. Well not exactly in the attic, they got in under the slates but don't seem to have gotten through the lining. But my question is, if they die off for the year except the queen, will they move back into the attic next year if there's an old nest there? Also does the queen fly off out of the nest next year or does she leave the nest and then hibernate. We actually had one in a bush at the front of my mother's house last year. They just won't piss off.!

They won't use the old nest but if the location is good then they could build a new nest in the same general area.

fryup

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

Only once a year when they are dispersing from the hive.

when the cold weather sets in?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

when the cold weather sets in?

No, they'll die off with the cold weather. Once autumn sets in and nectar/pollen and aphids are no longer readily available to sustain the hive, it disperses. The lack of natural sugars at this stage is what makes them a pest at our picnics in late summer. For the year up to that they didn't need to seek out our sugary treats.

fryup

the reason i ask is because there's a large nest in the base of my cordyline, and the wasps at the moment have gone into overdrive coming and going in all directions and very aggressive..i take it they know that winter is setting in and they need to stock up ??

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

the reason i ask is because there's a large nest in the base of my cordyline, and the wasps at the moment have gone into overdrive coming and going in all directions and very aggressive..i take it they know that winter is setting in and they need to stock up ??

No, you're not quite getting it. They don't stock up for winter, as the hive is inactive in winter and most will be dead.

Natural food supply is running out and there are no more grubs in the hive to be tended to, so more wasps freed of babysitting duties and more wasps in search of diminishing food.

Marhay70

Plus, they may be pi**ed. Wasps gorge on fermenting fruit at this time which makes them drunk and aggressive, very much like a lot of their human counterparts and also like their human counterparts in this condition, best avoided.

philstar

do we get hornets in ireland?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

philstar wrote: »

do we get hornets in ireland?

No.

Hocus Focus

I thought it was actually too late to see wasps, as I no longer see any of them around the windfalls under my apple trees, but yesterday I found, in a patch of rough grass that was formerly a vegetable patch, a hole, about the size of a rat-hole, with a constant stream of wasps coming and going. The long grass directly overhanging it appears to have been cut away to allow them a clear flight-path. I thought they only nested in the type of nests described above, in dry ventilated locations. Has anyone ever heard of them nesting underground

Marhay70

It could well have been a rat hole. Wasps will use abandoned rat, mouse, rabbit burrows to nest in.

Kat1170

philstar wrote: »

do we get hornets in ireland?

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

No.

You sure about that ? On a number of occasions over the years I have seen what I'm quite sure were Hornets.

Look like Wasps on steroids, about 2 inches long. I never hung around long enough to see if they were aggressive.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Kat1170 wrote: »

You sure about that ? On a number of occasions over the years I have seen what I'm quite sure were Hornets.

Look like Wasps on steroids, about 2 inches long. I never hung around long enough to see if they were aggressive.

No verified records of Hornets in Ireland.

Our largest wasp is the German Wasp Vespula Germanic. You probably saw queens but even them they are only 17mm. There are larger wasp like insects like the Giant Wood wasp Uroceras gigas which is 30mm and completely harmless.

Living Off The Splash

I had an underground wasp nest in my garden. I turned a water hose on it for a week non stop.....and they kept coming. I dug it out in the winter.
This year I have another underground nest in a different part of the garden. I will wait until it gets cold and do another dig.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I had an underground wasp nest in my garden. I turned a water hose on it for a week non stop.....and they kept coming. I dug it out in the winter.
This year I have another underground nest in a different part of the garden. I will wait until it gets cold and do another dig.

There's no point digging up an abandoned nest in winter. They are gone or dead.

Underground nests are usually in abandoned mouse or rat holes.

Living Off The Splash

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

There's no point digging up an abandoned nest in winter. They are gone or dead.

Underground nests are usually in abandoned mouse or rat holes.

I thought that I read that wasps will return to the nest the next year and make it bigger?

wait4me

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I thought that I read that wasps will return to the nest the next year and make it bigger?

See post #16 above

fryup

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I had an underground wasp nest in my garden. I turned a water hose on it for a week non stop.....and they kept coming. I dug it out in the winter.
This year I have another underground nest in a different part of the garden. I will wait until it gets cold and do another dig.

i hate to see your water bill

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Mid November and there are still wasps in the garden. Must be the mild weather confusing them?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Logan Howling Bluebird wrote: »

Mid November and there are still wasps in the garden. Must be the mild weather confusing them?

They are not confused, they are just not dead yet.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Don't recall ever seeing so many around the garden in mid Nov. Thought it might be the milder weather.

Avatar MIA

Saw one yesterday. How long would a wasp live if you kept it as a "pet", and fed it sugar/honey? Would it over winter?

Not, going to do it, but would it be possible?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Like this?

Avatar MIA

Logan Howling Bluebird wrote: »

Like this?

Definitely not :pac:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Logan Howling Bluebird wrote: »

Don't recall ever seeing so many around the garden in mid Nov. Thought it might be the milder weather.

It is the mild weather has resulted in them not falling prey to the cold.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Saw one yesterday. How long would a wasp live if you kept it as a "pet", and fed it sugar/honey? Would it over winter?

Not, going to do it, but would it be possible?

22 to 40 days, so don't get too attached.

Avatar MIA

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

22 to 40 days, so don't get too attached.

What gets them then, if not cold and food. Wasp old age?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Avatar MIA wrote: »

What gets them then, if not cold and food. Wasp old age?

More or less , yes.

Honey bees (workers) die naturally after 6 weeks.

looksee

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

More or less , yes.

Honey bees (workers) die naturally after 6 weeks.

Heavens you could wax very philosophical over that!

bpmurray

Ariya CoolS Mimicry wrote: »

More or less , yes.

Honey bees (workers) die naturally after 6 weeks.

Only in the summer - the winter population lives for 6 months.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

bpmurray wrote: »

Only in the summer - the winter population lives for 6 months.

True enough, non working Honey Bees live 4 to 6 months solely within the hive and were probably a poor example.

Worker Bumble Bees live between 14 and 40 days with only Queens overwintering.

Chuchote

Kat1170 wrote: »

You sure about that ? On a number of occasions over the years I have seen what I'm quite sure were Hornets.

Look like Wasps on steroids, about 2 inches long. I never hung around long enough to see if they were aggressive.

If you see them again, whip out your phone and take a snap, and send it to TCD's science department and maybe to Derek Mooney in RTE (he's in charge of science and nature programmes) with a request for ID.

CiDeRmAn

We had a problem with hornets back in the 90s.
We were living in rented accommodation, top floor of a 5 story building, and these things that looked like big brown wasps had us tormented.
Mostly at night though, I recall being half asleep and hearing this heavy buzz, awoke to find this monster hovering around.
We told the landlord but nothing was done and they just seemed to stop arriving after a couple of weeks.

CiDeRmAn

As for wasps at night.
It was early December in Chez Ciderman.
The previous year we had a conifer in a pot in the sunroom as a little Christmas tree, about 3ft tall, after the season was over the tree, pot and all, went on the patio outside.
The following year the tree, now a little bigger, was requested by she who must be obeyed to be reinstated in the sunroom, so I did my duty, hauling that heavy thing in, up over the step, and popped it into position, this was around 16:00....
At around 20:00 we had found and killed about 20 wasps, buzzing around the room, into the adjacent kitchen.
Each batch of wasps nobbled just seemed to result in more turning up, and with a further 10 I realised it was the bloody tree! There was a wasps nest in there and the heat in the room had awoken them!
So I put on a heavy coat and gloves, covered my face and grabbed the tree, turfing it out the doors into the frigid night air, with buzzing emanating from inside the tree.
Doors shut and let winter do it's thing, never had a live tree in the house again!

Kat1170

Chuchote wrote: »

If you see them again, whip out your phone and take a snap, and send it to TCD's science department and maybe to Derek Mooney in RTE (he's in charge of science and nature programmes) with a request for ID.

I've only seen them on 3-4 occasions when cutting up old dead fallen trees. I have to admit to hightailing it asap. Only ever saw one or two at a time, but that was enough.