Wasp Wars

It’s our caravanning neighbours’ turn to be away for a couple of weeks. We reciprocate looking after each others gardens while the others are away.

Yesterday morning Carol noticed a sizeable hole in one of their flower beds together with signs (i.e. scattered soil) that an animal had been digging. Closer inspection revealed the tell-tale papery remnants of a wasp nest in the cavity and frenetic activity by the real estate holders apparently attempting to affect repairs. What doesn’t mind digging up and, presumably, eating wasps, I wonder? We do have badgers in the vicinity so maybe a badger is the culprit.

I dislike wilfully killing the great majority of creatures on this planet save for food, of course; I am a confirmed carnivore, after all. However, of wasps I make an exception; those I will happily kill. So, off we went to the local garden centre in search of something with which to eradicate the irritating beasts. We returned with some Doff Wasp Nest Killer which sounded just the ticket. I applied it liberally over what remained of the nest and around any entrances I could spot. The wasps did not appear to appreciate it as the level of activity increased markedly.

My evening check on the situation revealed a satisfying amount of wasp carcases littering the nest and no visible activity whatsoever. Excellent! Curiously, magpies appear to be raiding the poisoned nest. Whilst I wouldn’t kill magpies myself, I wouldn’t mind if we ended up with a few less of them as a result.

This morning, we spotted a disturbing number of wasps coming and going just above our bedroom window under the eaves of our house. Darn, there must be a nest in the roof. We had a nest the size of a soccer ball at the opposite end of our roof some years ago and called someone out to treat that. It is still up there, smothered in white powder, largely because it is behind a lot of loft clutter, boxes and the like.

Since I now seem to have some white powder of my own, I scrambled up armed with a light and said white powder. Sure enough, there was a nest right by the eaves, this one about half the size of our previous nest.

I’ve dusted it and received a sting into the bargain. We wait with bated breath and crossed fingers to see the result.

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