Warning of increased number of wasps

Kent is being told to brace itself for a “swarmaggeddon” of wasps this summer.

Millions more of the insects are buzzing around the country than have done for the past five years because a mild winter and sunshine has led to an increase in caterpillars and aphids, and nowhere will be worse hit than southern England.

Pest controllers have been receiving around 100 calls a week to remove wasp nests from homes.

Across the whole of Britain there are 250 different species of wasps, but only 12 are thought to be social and form nests.

Greg Hitchcock, of the Maidstone-based Kent Wildlife Trust, said: “It will be the weather in particular – cold winters will kill off queens. If there is a lot of bad weather the insects the wasps eat will go down.

“We had a mild winter so it is possible that there are more queen wasps. We have had relatively good weather for insects, there has been enough rain to keep grass growing and it is quite possible that if exterminators are seeing a greater call-out then there are more.”

Wasps feast on leftover foods from bins as well as aphids, caterpillars and other insects, but colonies die from starvation during the winter months.

Only the queen, which has an average lifespan of 12 months, survives the winter before laying eggs which grow into adult worker wasps.

Kent is expected to see many more wasps this summer