Wasps Part 2

 4th July 2023

I spent an hour this morning in the conservatory and I was still no nearer to getting rid of the wasps. I had to keep darting in and out to avoid them and they were getting a bit annoyed!

Truth is, I'm a coward. I've never been stung in my life and don't particularly want to start now, lol. Besides, I react badly to midges, so will a wasp be worse? 

Don't know; don't aim to find out!

Anyway, I've cleared a bit - three more rubble sacks full of 'stuff' and started to reduce the size of the furniture mountain. What I *want* to do, is heave that old mattress off the top, but I'm not brave enough to do it.

So far I have seen maybe ten wasps at any one time. There's no knowing if they are the same wasps each time, or a different set. But in the meantime, I have learned a lot about wasps. The queen starts to build her nest in the spring and it might be the size of a golf ball by the time she starts laying her eggs. By summer, it could be the size of a football and house up to 10,000 wasps 😲 

Okay, so need to deal with it sooner rather than later then!

So after lunch I decided to get brave lol. First I asked some friends online how best to deal with the wasps and they came up with absolutely the best idea! In order to avoid being stung, I ought to wear a beekeeper's suit! Okay, I don't have one and don't actually know anyone who does, so I did the next best thing - but you'll have to wait for the photo ;)

Then, using a long handled cultivator (one of those things that has three prongs on the end), I started to tackle the furniture mountain and pulled the headboard off the top of the mattress.

Then, from the path outside the conservatory, I pushed the mattress to one side, at which point, two things happened

1. I could see the nest (or so I thought). However, it seemed to be pretty quiet and I guessed it was simply a bit that had fallen off the main nest

2. I suspected the main nest was actually inside the mattress.

So pulling and pushing at bits with the cultivator, I removed cushions from the sofa and got the mattress flat on the floor, the same way up it had been on the sofa pile. Good call in the end, as I discovered that the nest was indeed inside the mattress - well almost inside.

Again using the cultivator, I dragged the sofa away from the wall, then (bravely for me) stood the mattress on its side and found the actual nest. OH is bringing some foam stuff home that you can spray from a distance, so I've done all I can do for now.

 

Couldn't resist taking a closer look though - especially being all 'suited up lol

An even closer view - using the zoom of course! I'm not *that* brave!!

So what was my 'suit'? First I put my waterproof hiking trousers on. Then my waterproof jacket, pulled the hood up and closed the zip right to the top. After that, I added my midge net (defence against midges when we go to Scotland), and added a pair of thick leather gardening gloves. Hot? Me? Of course not - I didn't choose the hottest day of the year t do this now did I?? Unfortunately, yes, it was extremely hot! And I was also trying to avoid my neighbours as they might have thought I was a sandwich short of a picnic!

Nuff said!

Of course, having got that far, I couldn't resist (still in 'suit') clearing up a bit more:

All that's left to do, once the wasps have been firmly ejected: