Is it me, or are there a lot less wasps around this year?

Vicxas

Usually around this time of year I’m like the wasp terminator with a rolled up magazine or towel. But I honestly don’t think I’ve seen one yet.

Anyone else seeing the same, or am I just lucky?

Bobblehats

Not seen one no.

boardlady

It's a bit early for them yet - they usually start to appear in August. Hopefully, they won't be too bad this year! They're an awful scourge.

Knine

Just wait until September! There will be plenty then

Bobblehats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119320468#Comment_119320468

Yea later … my that’ll be fun

corner of hells

They've changed strategy , they hang around bottle banks now half pissed on cheap wine waiting to ambush hungover people and show off in front of their mates.

Fcukin' flying nazis.

Chris_5339762

Theres a nest of them having taking up residence in a bird box. I'm inclined to leave them be for now and let them do their pollination (wasps are very good pollinators, like bees and should be left alone really, although they just don't help themselves with their public image). I'll probably get rid of the nest once they start to become annoying or if one of them goes for me.

BattleCorp

They are out in the fields getting their sugar fix at the moment. When their sugary food in the fields dries up, usually August/September, then they'll head indoors and you'll see plenty of them then.

Pythagorean

Wasps do more good than harm, I have only been stung once or twice in my entire life. They are not aggressive, usually only sting if you annoy them or if they are defending their nest. I would be more worried at the lack of butterflies, I used to see hordes of them on Buddleia at this time of year, now they are a rare sight.

WJL

Wasps are most common in late August and September.

Stranger Things

Maybe I’m dirty but I’m noticing a lot more flies. Annoying ba**ards

sam t smith

I had 3 of the feckers in the kitchen the other day.

OneEightSeven

I was wondering this myself. I've been spending a good few hours working in the front and back garden on sunny/dry days since May. I thought I saw a wasp in the back garden yesterday, but it was a hoverfly and then I realised I hadn't seen a wasp all year.

During the early days of the July 2013 heatwave, my laurels were covered with them. Must have been hundreds of them. I have never seen anything like it. Might have something to do with the late winter/cold Spring that year. Last spring or the spring before, I killed 3 queens that decided to fly into my room.

Fathom

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Did you smash it

Read this without the s in wasps first time around

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119320550#Comment_119320550

They attack and kill honey bees, terrible pointless things wasps.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119324243#Comment_119324243

The flies are everywhere. With it being so hot we have the windows open and I'm constantly putting them out.

Chris_5339762

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119325643#Comment_119325643

They do rob hives if they can get in, yes. You have to restrict the entrance of a beehive to stop wasps getting into them. A strong hive can see them off no problems.

They're awful annoying things yes, but they are very good pollinators - so I'd rather leave them be until they've gotten that bit done anyway. Then they can die!

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119325643#Comment_119325643

They have a function. If anything is pointless it's humans; destroy, consume, fück, reproduce without stopping until everything's gone. We kill far more bees than wasps ever could.

archer22

There was an article on the BBC news site a few weeks ago explaining how Wasps very a vital component of the eco pollinating system...some plants could not survive without them.

Also they control insect and bug populations who would otherwise breed out of control without Wasps.

They are far from being useless...In fact they are absolutely vital to a healthy planet.

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119324243#Comment_119324243

Agree about the flies. Horrible yokes and the most dumbest creatures ever. The windows open and what do they do fly into and keep bumping into the window that's not open.

I'm after getting stung three times this summer.

archer22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347214#Comment_119347214

In every case bar one where I've seen someone get stung they have been trying to swat the Wasp.

The other case was where a moron tried to burn a Wasps nest.

thefallingman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347214#Comment_119347214

So far !

mrmorgan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347190#Comment_119347190

If bees became extinct, the world would end!!

Still stihl waters 3

Sad to see ignorance so prevalent, we truly are the worst animal

jmreire

Last year, in my shed noticed a nest under construction on one of the rafters ( which were very low, as its only a small storage shed, and a wonderous thing it was. I was prepared to live and let live, and for awhile it worked out ok, then one day, with a wasp buzzing around my head ( which I ignored ) that is until he got between my collar and neck, and when I turned , he became trapped and stung me. I tell you one thing about wasp stings, they are sore, and remain sore for several days. So truce ended, and the same week in the evening when the hive activity had stopped, I went into the shed armed with a large glass jar and a very wide bladed painters scraper. I placed the jar over the nest, and slid the scraper in between the rafter and the jar, cutting the nest which fell into the jar, and that was that for the nest and the wasps. I still have the jar with the nest intact in it, and often look at it and marvel at its construction.

Galwayguy35

I don't mind wasps, I don't bother them and have never been stung.

Blue flies on the other hand seems to have come out in force since the hot spell arrived a few days ago.

Mister Vain

You don't see as many insects stuck in the car grills these days either.

Still stihl waters 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347908#Comment_119347908

50 percent reduction in insects in some parts of the world I read recently, we don't know how much we need insects until they'll be gone, no insects = no life at all

tabby aspreme

Wasps help keep the aphid population under control, which is beneficial to a lot of crops.

We have a plant at the back of the house that attracts them, they strip the waxy surface off the leaves, working side by side in pairs, what they remove off the leaves is used for nest building.

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347908#Comment_119347908

Or the Nr plates and bonnet, windscreen etc. Not too long ago, you could get additives to mix with the windscreen wash bottle for the sole purpose of removing fly's etc. from the glass, and the scraping sound the wipers made as they tried to keep the glass clean.

Atlantic Dawn

Not seen a single one this year. Last week I was dropping some bottles at the local bottle bank and I didn't see a single one, normally in the summer months they would be swarming the bins during daylight.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119321479#Comment_119321479

Not correct. This time of year they're collecting insects like aphids which they feed to their larvae. They feed on the sugary excretions produced by their larvae. They won't be seeking out fruit or other sugar sources until later in the year when larvae feeding had ended.