To celebrate the wasps have returned 👏

[Goingmadddd]

Until This year I did not understand the purpose of wasps.

If you didn’t know… they eat flies.

And after the WORST fly year in history. I had so many different species I actually tried to count them all. Who is celebrating the return of the wasps with me?

I run screaming from all flying things so, sadly, cannot join the celebration. I did not know that wasps eat flies, though, so thanks for that education!

I appreciate that wasps have a function but I am terrified of them so am now unable to eat or drink outside until October (also scared of daddy long legs but there won’t be many this summer as it’s been so hot 💪🏻💪🏻)

I think they’re wonderful and serve an important ecosystem function!

don’t antagonise them and they’ll leave you well alone. They tend to be starving this time of year, so I don’t feel too bad about sharing my drinks or food with them.

I always thought this too until I was sitting outside in my garden chair last week minding my own business and one of the twats stung me on my COMPLETELY STATIONARY LEG. So now all trust has gone.

Oh that was mean! Hope it wasn’t too awful 😣

Severely allergic (carry an EpiPen) so no celebrating here

I hate the buzzy wee bastards. But I don’t run around screaming when they come near me, I just ignore them.

I like wasps and feed them on jam. They hunt around the shrubs for spiders, which I also like.

Someone once told me they are hungry and I should feed them and they will leave you alone. I have a thing called a Waspinator which mimics a wasps nest and makes most of them stay away. Since I’ve had it I get one or two each year. When we are eating outside I put a bit of food a little way away and when the wasp finds it it munches away quite happily. I’ve discovered that if I put the food in the same place it will go straight there and not bother us.

They like protein early in the season and go for the sweet stuff later on.

Fascinating watching them

No celebrating here, either. I mentioned on a previous thread that one of the little bastards crawled under my T-shirt and stung me twice, so they can all fuck off. I used to tolerate them, but now I’m getting mediaeval on their ass with a can of Raid if one so much as looks at me sideways.

Yep, first and only time I've been stung was a sunny day in November last year. Just walking across the park, minding my own business when the angry little bastard collided hard with the back of my neck and stung me. It was over so quickly I think it must have been hurtling around stinger-first looking for a target.

I don’t wish anything bad to happen to wasps but I can’t pretend to be happy buzzing around everywhere I’ll be honest . Have had a few stings over the years .

We have one that always drinks from the bird bath after I fill it up....

don’t antagonise them and they’ll leave you well alone

They really don't.
This is a complete lie.

I interact with them and don't get stung. It must be the vibes people are giving off. They can feel the fear.

I used to detest wasps (yet I absolutely love bees, including honeybees that look a lot like wasps) but bizarrely I began to become tolerant of them when we had a wasps nest above our front door and they had also come up between the airbricks in the wall and swarmed in the front small bedroom - I only noticed when I walked in, looked up and saw hundreds of them.
I couldn't bear the thought of killing them for just going about their business so we decided to just leave them, ignore that room and hope for the best.
They left a few months later and have never been back since.
I didn't get stung once so I've sort of gained a grudging respect for them now. Can't say I feel affectionate towards them like I am with bees etc but I'd only kill one if I absolutely had to.

Nope. No celebrating here and had an exterminator here today ro remove a nest. I’ve no desire to have them in my house or flying round me when I’m outside.

someone said leave some food and fhey leave you alone. Nope. Tried that. They go for that food or that drink. and everything else, your drinks, your food, , all thr food, the lot. And they persist.

Have they returned? I haven’t seen any I’m outside most of the day.

The queens came out of hibernation early because of the warm spring and then died off in the cold at the start of May.

They're not expected to make much of a return this year and that matches my experience.

Same here. I mean, not their fault and everything, but not keen. Rather their death than mine, all told.

Yep they’re drunk, angry and spoiling for a fight this time of year.

Yup I’d a nest that’s been removed today, they were still young but it was very active.

DH got stung a few days ago for the crime of walking across a car park. He has no idea that there was a wasp around until the fucker got up his t-shirt sleeve and stung him.

I've had some unprovoked stings in my time. Once, one decided to go under my sandal strap, sting my foot and embed itself so it had to be pulled out with a pair of pliers.

I know they have their ecological uses but they are also aggressive stingy bastards and I have no love of them.

Bees on the other had are lovely.

Me too! I am an outdoor soul. In the last few weeks I have begun to see a loan ranger every now and then. But this seems to have coincided with a disappearance of all the flies. So I am chuffed.

The number of flies we had was beyond hideous! I would take a loan wasp over the deluge of flies any day. If I had that many wasps? It might be a different answer 😂

But for now I am pleased. The circle of life has rebalanced 🥳

One of the little fuckers flew at me this morning while I was sitting still, minding my own business, landed on my lip and stung me.

Today I do not care about their role in the ecosystem. They can all fuck off.

No they can fuck off. Just another thing to watch out for when my little kids are in the garden.