Is this a wasp nest? With pics

[Seedlip]

I just found what looks like a couple of wasp nests in the lawn, next to the patio where we having seating.

The one in the photo is about the size of an iPhone 6, and there is another one close by that's about a third that size.

The second pic hopefully shows the wasp at the centre of the photo, in the grass. It's black with bright yellow bands.

Should I get an exterminator? Or how best can I remove them?

That looks like sawdust and bits of birch tree to me. Not like the wasps nest we had (although that doesn't mean this isn't one, I'm not an expert!)

The don’t look like wasps’ nests to me. Have you googled to see pictures of what they usually look like?

No, agreed that doesn't look like a wasps' nest. They're usually vaguely spherical, inside they have lots of cells glued together and all tightly bound together by the outer surface, which looks like paper (which is roughly what it is, being made of chewed up wood).

That's not a wasp in the second picture, or at least not a wasp of the communal, person-stinging kind. It's possible a wood-boring insect like this giant wood wasp (which despite its name is not a wasp but a saw-fly) www.whatsthatbug.com/2014/08/03/giant-wood-wasp-uk/

So, basically, it's not posing any threat to you, so leave it alone. Come winter, you might like to check your decking - those wood shavings have come from somewhere.

That's not a wasps next.

wasp nests are like paper balloons, of varying sizes and would tend to be high up, in a shed or roof cavity.

Thanks all. When I search google images "yellow jacket nest ground" it looks similar: a small hole in the ground surrounded by tiny debris and the insect going in and out of it.

I'll try to get a closer look at the insect itself.

If it's not person stinging I will leave alone.

Ooh, I saw lots of little piles like this around the coast at Botallack in Cornwall. Never found out what they were though.
It looked like sawdust that had been put there.

Update: it might be Cerceris rybyensis or other similar digger wasp (entomacrographic.co.uk/2012/10/24/identifying-digger/)

The nests are close to some lavender which is popular with bees, which makes sense as the wasps prey on bees laden with pollen.

@PrettyShiningPeople, yes it looks like sawdust! I wonder if they're burrowing into the oak sleeper, which is adjacent to the nest.

www.bwars.com/wasp/crabronidae/philanthinae/cerceris-rybyensis

When I search google images "yellow jacket nest ground" "Yellow jacket" is a US term - I'm not aware of it being used in the UK. So most of your results will be US sites, not necessarily relevant to the UK, assuming you are in the UK, which is probably a big assumption.

Your Cerceris rybyensis does look a good match.

Yes Yellow Jackets are an American species of wasp. Not applicable here.
I don’t think that is a bog standard social wasp. Possibly they are burrowing wasps , as you say. Not a stinging species I don’t think ?

Sorry, I didn't mean to say I thought they were yellow jackets. I'm in the UK, south

I was (possibly not very coherently) responding to the question "They don’t look like wasps’ nests to me. Have you googled to see pictures of what they usually look like?", and I wanted to say the nests certainly don't look like the dangling paper wasp nest type but rather they were holes in the ground like the nests of yellow jackets.

It most certainly could be!!! Be careful. My toddler investigated a small hole in the ground on a day out at the beginning of summer and it was a wasps nest!! The result was him being stung around 6 times all over his body and us both being chased by them a few 100 yards away, they just kept coming after us. I was stung aswell. Was honestly bloody awful!!! Vicious little f##@#@@