Wasps

[-pops-]

I think I started a thread last year on this subject but, the same thing has happened again (or not).

For the third year in a row at the time when we are normally deluged with those nasty, vindictive, stinging insects, there are none.

I live in the wilds surrounded by all the autumnal things, like fruit trees, that should attract wasps but I've not seen a single one.

Have you got wasps? Do they seem more or less than normal?

[andsome]

We've had a few, but not as many as we would normally expect. I hate them, they are so persistent.

[Belatucadrus]

We've had a few, even had a nest that required dusting. Earlier in the year we had regular visitations from hornets, apparently quite placid, but very painful if you do pee them off sufficiently to get stung (not something I've tested you understand). Now we seem to mainly have bumble bees, which is OK as I like bumble bees.

[deuces wild]

We have lots and lots of WASP's here in the States. :D

"WASP" is an acronym for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. When someone calls someone a WASP today, they usually mean to imply that the person is uptight, reserved and/or elitist, regardless of their background. The stereotype of the uptight, upper class WASP is based on the assumption that white Anglo-Saxon Protestants are both genetically (white Anglo-Saxons) and religiously (Protestant) predisposed to acting like, well, snobs.

The term "WASP" was made popular by E. Digby Baltzell in his 1964 book, "The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America." Baltzell used the term to refer to the American cultural, political and economic elite--preppy, Ivy League and country club types. These days, the label is used much more loosely to refer to people--almost always white, sometimes Protestant--who fit the behavioral stereotype of a WASP. The Anglo-Saxon part of the term--which refers to descendents of Germanic and Danish people who settled in the British Isles and are by definition white--has become irrelevant.

http://www.gurl.com/findout/label/pages/0,,671972,00.html

[dadyassa]

I think the bees are all over here now.... Spain

[rong]

They are in short supply this year, as they are not in the fallen plumbs.

[artist]

Not many here in Dorset either. Strange. Usually when we eat outside they are a real pain - not this year though.

Loads of bees - nice - and LOADS of hover flies - no bother at all.

[Belatucadrus]

I suppose it all depends on precisely which type of wasp (yellowjacket) you're talking about, were you talking about the Common wasp, or was it the German, the Median (not Medion, that's a computer, usually solitary unstripy and not known to sting unless you stick your fingers in the casing while it's switched on ), the Saxon or even the Red wasp.

Social wasp pics

Try wondering round the garden in a short sleeved shirt carrying a jam sarnie, if there are any around they'll soon find you. :P

[Thos]

Isn't it a bit early for the worst of the wasps? I always think September, when the apples are ripening and falling and the wasps get going into the rotten fruit. Then you cannot eat outside for the pests.

Thos.

[catgate]

I think they must be in short supply this year. We have just started harvesting plums, with no sign of wasps, or the marks where they've been. I have killed no more than half a dozen all summer.

edit....damned fingers!

[bvw]

Can't remember seeing one this year......good news :)

[joysness]

Three years ago I had a few wasps. They built a small nest under the eaves near my patio door.

Haven't seen any since then.

Also did not have any robins this year. Last year my garden was full of them, letting me know spring was on it's way. Not a one this year.

:(