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Do we need wasps?

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    #32
    Hammer89
    Registered Users Posts: 3,003 ✭✭✭Hammer89


    Hammer89 wrote: »
    What do they do, apart from spark panic in previously calm people? I can't tell you how often I've been smoking out my bathroom window this week, only to throw it away at the slightest sound of a buzz. They keep coming in. Sometimes I hear the buzz inside and think, 'How did you get in?' and the obvious answer is, he was already there, waiting.

    Turns out there was a nest the size of a golf ball under the toilet bowl. Thankfully the wasps had vacated the premises but I got an awful fright when I saw it drop.


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    #33
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,121 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/add-checklist-new-wasp-ireland/
    We have parasitic wasps in Ireland - they attack and lay their eggs in the bodies of other wasps and insects - the eggs hatch and the larvae eat the insides of their host.

    I just wanted to share that with people.


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    #34
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Leave them alone and they will echo that.

    When I was market trading, folk used to perform the " wasp dance"! YOU know! One sight of a wasp and they are waving their arms. looking aggressive. so of course the wasp attacks, as we are bigger than they are

    So I started leaving a jar of diluted jam open near the stall; they are very hungry and dying so it was kindness, and never a problem..

    The only time I was stung was when one had chosen my hat to sleep in and when I put the hat on ! OUCH!

    And yes we need them as pollinators


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    #35
    super_furry
    Registered Users Posts: 27,321 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    They have something to do with figs is all I know. I think there's dead wasps in figs or something like that


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    #36
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Not too long ago the Chinese government decided they didn't really need sparrows. Didn't end well. Turns out the sparrows were eating the locusts, so when the sparrows were wiped out the locusts ate all the crops causing a famine which killed millions of people.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign

    Funny old world.


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    #37
    s7ryf3925pivug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,007 ✭✭✭s7ryf3925pivug


    I caught two on film. killing flies in my garden during the summer. It's pretty dramatic, they really go for them, and the flies struggle to escape. It takes longer than you'd expect. I copied it from and wiped it from my phone since but might post it later.


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    #38
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    super_furry wrote: »
    They have something to do with figs is all I know. I think there's dead wasps in figs or something like that

    Yes and No. It's a lengthy explanation, so I'll let this link explain.

    https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/are-there-really-wasps-your-figs


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    #39
    bnt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,961 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    At this time of year the cold makes them dozy, and they'll just wander in to places looking for warmth. You can just scoop them up on a piece of paper, gently, and take them out again.

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



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    #40
    Marhay70
    Registered Users Posts: 1,912 ✭✭✭Marhay70


    At this time of year a lot of fruit drops and is left to rot, during the rotting process the juices ferment and turn to alcohol. Wasps feed on this fruit and drink the juice so if you are attacked by a wasp bear in mind that it is probably pissed and like the local soak on a Friday night, unlikely to listen to rational argument.


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