Wasps or bees?

NIMAN

These guys have set up base in a gap between the metal corrugated roof of my garage and the material on the inside of the roof.

Wondering are they wasps or bees?

I suspect the former.

electricus

wasps!

SuperBowserWorld

Definitely wasps

NIMAN

Thought so.

These ones are at the very top of the garage, and aren't really bothering us as we sit out in this nice weather.

And not a fan of killing insects for the sake of it, so maybe just best to leave them alone until the autumn, when maybe ill seal up the hole?

SuperBowserWorld

If they are not bothering you then just leave them alone. AFAIK the nest will be empty/vacant in autumn/winter.

wayne040576

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123627090#Comment_123627090

Yeah that's true. They don't reuse nests the following year but they can return to the same location if it's a 'good spot'. Just make sure to seal up the area during the winter if possible.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123627090#Comment_123627090

Well they are about 10ft off the ground and a decent distance from where we'd sit out in the back garden, so I'd guess they won't bother us if we leave them alone.

Igotadose

Wasps, the waist is a dead giveaway. Hopefully they don't get their dander up and decide someone's bothering them. Feckers can sting really bad.

Hungry Burger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123627111#Comment_123627111

Once they start stinging they don’t stop. I received a nasty dose on the hand once while doing a bit of DIY work and inadvertently disturbed a nest, must have received 6-10 stings. Hand swelled up like a balloon.

NIMAN

Id be worried about anyone getting stung. My kids are talking about camping out in the back garden tonight, but I'd think they wouldn't be active at that time?

Plus, my son was stung quite badly a few years back, and it wasn't pleasant.

As I say, would prefer just to leave them but was considering getting one of the wasp nest sprays and giving it a good squirt in the late evening.

Hungry Burger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123627150#Comment_123627150

mind yourself anyway. Generally speaking, the higher up the nest is the better. If it’s low to the ground they swarm out and you’ve a higher chance of being stung. If you can spray the stuff in from the ground they will fly out but generally stay at the same level.

Kaybaykwah

My wife’s colleague, a recently retired locomotive engineer was sitting in his yard enjoying a beer when a wasp entered the bottle and stung him. He died from an allergic reaction. It’s a possibility.

My dad had been stung by two wasps when going up a tree when he was 10 yrs old. You could still feel the bumps on his skull 60 some odd years later…

The scariest thing around here now is getting hit by a tick and catching Lyme’s disease. We have become the epicenter in North America Southern Quebec) for this. It can become debilitating to the point of total invalidity. Our pets need vaccines and repellents too!

CalamariFritti

We had a wasp nest one year in the compost heap. Freaked out my wife cos you know garden etc but when we googled it said leave them alone they will leave you alone and they dont come back next year to the same place.

And thats what happened. They were around but totally not aggressive and never bothered us and never came into the house. And next year they didn't come back. All grand.

NIMAN

Ill leave them alone for now, but if I start seeing them in the house, they are getting nuked.

RoryMac

We had a wasp nest just inside our attic 2 years back, during the summer months they didn't bother us even when we were out in the garden. You'd see them coming and going but as it got into September and October they started to become a problem.

The bathroom light being turned on in the morning would attract a heap of them onto the outside of the window. Couldn't leave the window open when showering. Same downstairs when making breakfast before work, they'd be all over the patio door, attracted to the light.

Ended up have to get a pest control company out as it was too difficult to get close myself.

Homesick Alien

They won't bother you if you don't bother them. They are pollinators too, just like bees, but without the PR of bees. I disturbed a wasp nest in my garden once and got three stings for my trouble but I left them alone after that and they left me alone too.

They can be a bit of a pest at certain times of the year and in certain parts of the country alright.

Dial Hard

Irish people seem to have an almost atavistic fear of wasps that I don't really understand (and yes, I have been stung). As Homesick Alien has said, wasps are pollinators too, so fair play for deciding to leave them alone if you can, OP.

We had a nest in the soffit just above my nephew's bedroom one year (bought a house with my sister) and apart from not being able to open his window for a couple of months, it was grand.

NIMAN

Yeah nature deserves a chance to flourish, killing them would be the last resort.

An amazing amount of activity in it all day, non stop.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123627111#Comment_123627111

I've has wasps nests in different parts of my garden for years. Never had a problem with them. I leave them alone and they leave me alone. They have to nest somewhere.

Igotadose

If they're in a remote part of the yard - one year they were in the composter but we could still use it - we leave them be.

If they're up on the house/under the eaves/in the attic - nope. Too risky especially to guests.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123629284#Comment_123629284

Well they are in a detached garage, up at the very top of it.

Its maybe 25ft from house, 10ft from nearest anyone would be in the garden, plus they dont seem to have access via the interior of the garage (so far).

At the moment, they aren't bothering anyone, so hopefully it stays that way.

Oscar_Madison

August is usually the time when wasps become a problem- their regular food source dwindles and they come hunting an alternative which is usually sugary substances - that’s when things can get challenging for humans

Zardoz

Industrious feckers wasps.

They seem to build a new nest in my garden each year.

The first one was in an old tree stump, then they managed to get into the fascia board, there was a tiny gap in the housing around a light fitting and they managed to get in.

Then they built one in the passenger seat of an old car I had that the cats used to sleep in.

Their latest nest was in some high grass last summer.

No sign of them so far this summer but as Oscar said its usually August they appear.

Had some very nasty bites from them, always in my calves, one year I had no antihistamines and I was like the elephant man, couldnt walk for 2 days.

Lewis_Benson

Nasty Bastards.
I ran over a ground nest with the mower a couple of years ago, they got a bit upset and let me know all about it.

NIMAN

As an update, they seemed to have calmed down a bit, definitely not as much activity or coming and going from it.

Before, inside the garage, you could hear a constant buzzing as they were no doubt working away. Now there is next to no noise heard, despite some wasps still coming and going from the hole.

Could they have abandoned it? Or is there another phase of nest building where its not as frantic or noisy?

10-10-20

I was doing some painting and removed a broken floodlight off the two storey wall and pulled the wires back into the attic in April. I completely forgot to seal the 2cm opening in the PVC soffit. Now I have a nest behind the fascia and I only realised after I heard them from my bed in June. They make a sound like a light rustling, enough to be heard through the ceiling. 😣

I'll leave them be but I have two in the house who are very triggered by them, so I'll say nothing.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123679334#Comment_123679334

I'm with the wasps on this - you destroyed their home, hardly nasty of them to be pissed!

tabby aspreme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123679389#Comment_123679389

Come this time of the year most of there work is done with all the young one's reared, that's probably why there's less noise in the nest, on a downside their food supplies are also getting scarce, that's why you will see them interacting with humans more while looking for food

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123679573#Comment_123679573

Well, firstly I didn't know it was there in the corner of my lawn.

And secondly, it was in my lawn.

**** the wasps.