No wasps this summer?

[Itneverrainsinsocal]

I haven’t seen a single wasp since summer began. I’m in the south east. Has anyone else noticed a lack of wasps? Is it too cold for them? I don’t even see one when we had the brief hot spell! Not complaining as I hate them but it’s also a bit strange…!

Isn't August the month for wasps ?

Now you mention it yes you're right! I don't recall seeing any!

Don’t they usually come out later in the summer? I haven’t seen one yet either, might be that it hasn’t got warm enough yet.

I haven't seen any either. I suppose we will know by August if there have been any nests.

So google says….In the United Kingdom, wasp season typically begins in April and subsides in September. A wasp colony is primarily active during the summer months between June and August, with hibernating queens exiting a nest within the first two weeks of autumn.

so it is a little weird not to see a single one? I’ve definitely seen bees and flies, just no wasps!

It's too cold, I've only seen one a couple of weeks ago when the sun was out briefly. They'll show up when the sun shines.

After absolute slug-mageddon I reckon in August there will be throngs of wasps around. How exciting (not).

Give it time! I guarantee that they'll be making a bloody nuisance of themselves by late August.

I had a bloody huge one get into the house the other week when I was putting the washing out, it was so big I suspect it might have been a queen or even a hornet. I keep the door closed when I'm outside now, I hate the things.

I’m concerned about the absence of bees this year. Our garden (also in the SE) is usually humming with large numbers of honey bees and many different types of bumble bees. This year only a handful. The clover is currently in flower on our lawn and not a single bee. It makes me very sad and worried.

I don’t think it’s just the cold and rainy weather recently because it has been the same since the spring, including a couple of weeks ago when we had many days of sunny weather. Anyone else notice this?

And yes only seen a handful of wasps too (queen ones early in the season). Normally we have several nests in our eaves!

I was thinking the same about judges. Haven’t really been bitten this year.

Now you've done it! The wasp klaxon will have sounded at the very mention of the bastards and well all be inundated with the gits. 😁

In Welsh, their nickname is "cont y bin". Yes, it does mean what you think it does.

I started seeing them in late May/Early June. I saw some yesterday too. They aren’t out en masse but they’re certainly around.

So far there's been no summer this summer so nor surprised there's not been many wasps but having said that I've seen a fair fee bees already I'm my garden

Hurrah.

Wee bastards. I'm happy if they never come back.

I was thinking the same about judges. Haven’t really been bitten this year.

The overcrowded prisons and backlog of cases are probably keeping them too busy to go round biting innocent members of the public.

Hardly any bees, no butterflies ... not seen a wasp. Maybe they know something we don't (not making up a conspiracy theory here by the way, just an observation)

A butterfly landed on me in the park on Sunday. So I’ve seen at least one of them. No wasps though thankfully.

It's been a terrible year for insects all round. Normally by now my lavender would be buzzing, hordes of cabbage whites would be rampaging across the allotment and long grass would be humming with grasshoppers. I can't remember a year like it.

Too early for wasps.

Been a dreadful year for insects generally.

Worrying times.

Plenty of bees here too. I haven’t seen many butterflies though but unfortunately that isn’t unusual.

Try sitting outside with a glass of beer and some ice cream and see if they appear!

This is the around the time of year they start to appear and make a nuisance of themselves.

There have been millions of midges and mosquitos though, I've been bitten so many times this year. Fortunately I don't react too badly.

I haven't seen many either. They have a complex cycle and prey on insects and flies to take to the nest.The infant wasps emit a sticky substance which keeps the other wasps coming back with food. When there are no more infants the wasps, who are basically addicted to the sticky substance, emerge in search of more. Which unfortunately for us is peak cream tea time. Don't eat cream teas in August I guess? Wonderful creatures though and keep the fly population down. Not huge numbers of bees but there are a fair few on the lavender at the moment. Not seen many or any butterflies either. I hope they're all OK it's a little worrying.

Meant to be midges! Didn’t notice the autocorrect!