Long time readers will know that I rather like wasps (yellow-jackets to you Americans) and I’ve written about them before (for example here and here). They are extremely good predators of creepie-crawlies and without them we’d be knee-deep in caterpillars and spiders. They are also adept at reducing dead wood to nothing: they scrape off pieces of wood which they chew into paper to make their nests.

This Autumn we seem to have a plethora of wasps. Not really surprising as we obviously have a wasps’ nest somewhere in our eaves. They come and go through the end of our guttering, a few feet from the bathroom window. And they are still very active; there’s a constant traffic of wasps in and out. That’s fine; it’s as it should be.

But what I have noticed is that we have an extraordinary number of queen wasps this Autumn. They are obviously emerging now, leaving the nest and are off to mate and find somewhere to hibernate. And they are mostly queens (although I think some of what I’ve seen are probably males); they’re far too large to be workers. At about twice the size of the workers (which is what we normally see about) they’re quite impressive.**

But why so many this year? It’s probably partly because we don’t so often see them and I’m seeing more now as they are so close (and they can now escape through the hatchway into our loft, which was previously not possible). But it is probably also partly because it is still mild and they haven’t been killed off in the nest by early frosts.

Vespula vulgaris
We have mostly two species of wasp in the UK, the common wasp, Vespula vulgaris, and the German wasp, Vespula germanica. I don’t know which species my wasps are, but I think probably the former; we do have both species here. I need to catch one and interrogate it; you can mostly tell the species from the face and body patterning, and the gender from size and body morphology as these illustrations show.

Vespula germanica
And these queens buzz. Very loudly but with a lower pitch than workers. I know this because the queens are getting into the house. Lots of queens. Yesterday we evicted three before lunch. But boy is that buzzing annoying: I guess it is designed to be. Like their colouring it could well be a defence mechanism; a warning: Don’t mess with me!

You can hear them coming. Standing in the bathroom this morning I could hear a faint, low buzzing. Alert! Wasp! But where was it? After a few minutes it appeared from the direction of the trap door. They’re attracted to light (I guess that, like moths, artificial light partly dazzles them) so putting out the bathroom light it was easy to shepherd the creature out of the window. Sorry dearie you ain’t hibernating in my house if I can avoid it — if nothing else the house is too warm for you to hibernate.

It’s interesting to watch them. They’re really only a pest when you can’t catch them or cajole them out. And they’ll be gone as soon as we get a couple of good frosts. Generally with wasps in the UK if you leave them alone they’ll leave you alone.^^ Let them be — they are such superb predators.

** No, they are NOT hornets. Hornets (Vespa crabo) are very large, quite scarce, more likely to be found in wooded areas, and distinctly yellow and brown.

^^ The only excuse for obliterating them is (a) if they are nesting somewhere totally unsuitable (like your kitchen) or (b) if you have someone you know to be seriously allergic to their sting as my late mother-in-law was, but that is not common.