Wasps

Asian Hornets now confirmed in the UK as an invasive species

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/20/threat-honeybees-asian-hornet-arrival-uk-confirmed-defra-invasive-species

While this is interesting (and long-expected), I can't help but feel that there may be a small bit of confusion with the really problematic Asian hornet, Vespa mandarinia. That's the one that's really dangerous to honey bee stocks, as a few of them will kill off an entire hive of European bees, who don't have the heat-smothering defence mechanism that native Japanese bees have. Fortunately, they haven't been found in Europe yet.

I don't think Vespa velutina does anything that European hornets don't do (e.g., ambushing honeybees), but their rate of reproduction may be the main problem. I'll have to do some more reading on that, though.

Sunday's sting on my throat is still sore, front of my neck shows the lump even with antihistamines.

Bastard caught me just as I went downhill. Skid stop, pulled the whole ass needle from my jugular

BWARS info. is useful. I didn't realize that Vespa velutina is actually a bit smaller than our native hornet and that predation of Honey Bees in hives can be limited by simply reducing the size of the hive entrance.

http://www.bwars.com/sites/www.bwars.com/files/info_sheets/Vespa_velutina_infosheet.pdf

It was a Bee

https://youtu.be/EF-oSVCCqzU?t=8m38s

That's what I thought too, since as a kid we learnt about the sting being left behind... but the thing is when it happened I pinched and flicked, maybe breaking the body.

^^ I think also he wouldn't miss a chance to be an over dramatic jessie about things

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-37471529

Massive wasp nest found.

The nest in my compost bin seems to be slowly dying now that it gets cold. I feel sorry for them, nature is a right bitch sometimes.

That's one for @General_Lucifer !

Oh I can't wait what will come out of that collab: Wasps and Lucifer :D

The wait is over;

https://generallucifer.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/142-clash-in-the-attic/

Christ, that's even bigger than the nest I battled!! How many stripy bastards would live in that??

I think a nest of this size could harbour significantly more than 10,000 wasps, but that it may have been added on to over several years and not actually had all of its parts inhabited at any one time. Wasps' nests deteriorate quickly, depending on the conditions surrounding them, and I think they would add on to an existing nest rather than reuse or repair all of it, but I don't know that for certain. Perhaps it was this entrance tunnel that kept wasps coming back and establishing themselves at the end of it.

Wasps don't build as space-efficiently as bees or reproduce as quickly, and much smaller beehives can contain more than 100,000 individuals, but the main limit on how many wasps can be in a colony is to do with their annual cycle. They haven't evolved a mechanism for a whole colony to survive the winter, unlike bees with their honey, so that queens hibernate in solitary. I believe they rarely hibernate in established nests, as those aren't actually very safe places for them, and may well not return to the same nest the following spring. That said, I think common species of wasps regularly produce colonies of tens of thousands of individuals. I seem to remember 30,000 as the rough maximum recorded, but I'd have to look it up. Again, you'd be surprised how many of them can fit into a nest that looks quite small to us. :)

The received wisdom is that for every pest there's a species of wasp that can control it, but there are clearly exceptions that prove this rule, too. :)

Great info, Oliver. I've often watched wasps hunting, patrolling flowers to catch pollinating flies or murder pests as they attack plants. I'm particularly fascinated by the parasitic wasps are that paralyse their prey to act as hosts to their young, or hide in ants nests until they can erupt and kill when they reach maturity. As much as wasps make my skin crawl, I admire them.

Parasitic wasps, supposedly, made Darwin doubt the possibility if a nice god: They're fascinating creatures and their viruses have evolved with them.

They're also frigging nightmare fuel. To the max.

I may carefully extract and keep the compost bin nest once it's empty.

For now the Striped Ones are in it, and I don't feel like going on a murder spree. Even though I had one in this morning, buzzing around wee man and me. This lot is not very stingy.

I doubt it's a big nest.

What I got from your blog: Your missus is into tool belts and you had to battle a gazillion wasps to get some action.

Hard work, do you have to kill a bison next time? :P

I once got stang off a wasp near Corby. I live quite close to Corby.

fuck wasps

I'm 1/4 wasp. Fuck all of you guys.

I once got stang off a wasp near Corby. I live quite close to Corby.

Repstorm.

Got stung a couple of weeks ago. Dirty fucker gave me cellulitis and I ended up in A&E on a drip getting IV antibiotics.

My garden obviously houses the bacteria as that is the third time I've had it from stings/bites and been in hospital in 4 years.

Garden safe, folks.

Swalolowed a fucking wasp on way home this afternoon.

Straight down the hole. Tried to drown the bastard with some high-5 but just coughed it all up to amusement of passing traffic.