Accrington Observer

Why we don’t want wasps to buzz off...

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OUR office is on a knife-edge in summer. As soon as an insect wanders in through an open window a couple of my colleagues go into a strange meltdown.

There are screams, waving arms and the blame culture follows soon after... if it is actually a wasp.

“Who left that window open?” “Alan can you get rid of it?” “Don’t bat it towards me!” are just some of the outbursts aimed at the knight in shining armour.

Can I just stress that I do not actually bat the wasps, just use a copy of our excellent members’ magazine Lapwing, to guide the stripy troublemak­er towards an open window and out into the warmth.

My favourite episode involved a colleague leaving the office to escape a wasp and demanding that I get rid of it before she came back.

She marched outside carrying a large box of clothing, which she suddenly dropped when another insect made straight at her.

She of course blamed a workmate who was scything some grass in front of her.

Once the blaming had ended, she continued to take her box of clothes to the post office... only to find another wasp in her car. Wasps and bees are plentiful at the moment, having been hoofed out of the nest by the queen, and they are on the look-out for food to keep them active. Unfortunat­ely, our little friends do like sugary drinks.

Let me stress at this moment that I understand some people would face frightenin­g medical conditions if stung by a bee or a wasp, but these beasties are two of our great pollinator­s and we need to live with them. A third of the world’s plants rely on pollinator­s.

I have been stung a couple of times in unprovoked attacks by wasps but, generally, I find keeping calm and instructin­g the insect away from the area with a magazine or paper is the best bet. Inside just trap it in a glass and help it outside to bother someone else.

Although there are many kinds of wasp, our favourite is the common wasp, with its black and yellow body. It has an obvious waist and, close-up, looks like something from the film Predator. If you do get close enough you will see the black ‘anchor’ mark on its face. Wasps build nests in walls and cavities in houses and roofs. That nest is built out of paper formed by the queen chewing up wood.

They live together in large colonies and, at the end of summer, reproducti­ve males and queens develop and leave the nest to mate. The males and previous queen die, and the new females hibernate, ready to emerge next spring and start the cycle again.

The queen is dead, long live the queen.

Common wasps catch a wide variety of invertebra­tes, mainly to feed to their larvae; they feed themselves on high-energy substances like nectar and rotten fruit. They will be a pest in many places this winter but keep calm and move them along and they will be back next spring to help your garden grow.

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, north of the River Mersey. It manages around 40 nature reserves and 20 Local Nature Reserves covering woodland, wetland, upland and meadow, and has 29,000 members, and over 1,200 volunteers.

To become a member of the Trust go to the website at www. lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129. For more informatio­n about Cheshire Wildlife Trust call 01948 820728 or go to cheshirewi­ldlifetrus­t.org.uk.

 ??  ?? Wasps are lively at this time of year
Wasps are lively at this time of year

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