Wasps

Hard to believe I know but wasps are good for our eco system. They play an important role in your gardens and also assist farmers crops by controlling pest populations (albeit not as well as we would :) 

They capture and eat insects such as flies, caterpillars and beetle larvae.

As you will probably know they are attracted to sweet things due to sugar increasing their lifespan and reproduction capabilities. You will have all seen it… that lovely afternoon down the pub when a few wasps become more and more. This is caused by said wasps returning to their hive, as they return back to the site for the plenty of goods on offer…. Guess what (?), their mates follow them back having detected the sweet stuff on them.

In the ideal world we would leave them to it, however, should you be unfortunate enough to have a nest within your immediate vicinity then you should act. Left unchecked the population can grow quite rapidly, and nests can become very large harbouring thousands of wasps.

If you are unfortunate enough to get stung the following can help

·         Wash the sting area.

·         Apply an ice pack to help reduce swelling

·         Keep the sting area clean and dry to combat infection

·         Cover with a dressing if necessary

·         Use hydrocortisone cream.

·         Consider an Antihistamine tablet (we carry these in our van based first aid kits during wasp season).

Wasps are active from spring when the queens waken from hibernation and lay eggs. They become more problematic late summer/early autumn as their sweet secreting grubs/aphids grow up, this is when they start looking for other sugar based food sources. They need their fix so keep those bins covered and picnic tables clean…