Sunday was gorgeous,and we had a big lunch outside in the garden….perfect , except the unwanted dinner guests arrived…… wasps !
I have no problems with wasps and do the sit and ignore tactic , they do cause havoc for a meal though. Swatting , flapping and jumping up and down can follow their arrival.
‘I hate wasps, what good are they anyway’ people shout.
Today in the sunshine again I watched some wasps going about their day travelling from sweet sticky fruit to another and wanted to share some positive things about wasps.
The blackberries were a magnet to the wasps , up close its great to see their fuzzy hairs, hopefully it makes them more likeable !
There is an estimated 9000 species of wasps in Britain most of them solitary, some absolutely minute. It is this black and yellow social wasp that turns up at our picnics, builds pappery nests in our sheds that we notice the most.
Wasps are important predators of aphids and other pests and larvae. They act as pollinators in the spring.
Interesting fact -it has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens.
By late August the wasp colonies are very large and there are no larvae left to secrete sugar for the workers to eat , this is why they are out hunting for sugar.
Let’s give wasps a chance and appreciate them for marvels of engineering, pest eaters, pollinators and brilliant builders.
NATURE TABLE EXPLORER 