Why wasps are so vicious?

[Xilter]

didn’t work. I have two of em in my kitchen of who, would had have flown straight past my paper bag.

[Bonefishblues]

Just a thought:

https://www.escapade.co.uk/adult-costum ... 121904.asp

[Brucey]

didn’t work. I have two of em in my kitchen of who, would had have flown straight past my paper bag.

if they are repeat visitors, they may be imprinted onto the route into your kitchen already perhaps

cheers

[crazydave789]

didn’t work. I have two of em in my kitchen of who, would had have flown straight past my paper bag.

probably drunk.

here's what you do with em - down at merthy mawr they have a serious groud wasp problem. so when camping there you hang up a beer can with an inch left in it.

when you have a decent number, open the can and spoon some plain flour into the beer and mix it about a bit. stick some oil in a pan and heat up.

tempura wasps, a japanese bee keeper recipe - serve as a fritter with sweet chilli sauce.

oh the cooking turns the venom into a simple protein.

[foxyrider]

I don't agree with the title of this thread ...I don't think wasps are vicious .I don't bother them and mostly they don't bother me. I'm 65 this year and I have been stung by a wasp maybe 6 or 7 times, always my fault ,not paying attention... I think we need to be a bit more wasp tolerant ....

You obviously have some anti wasp pheromone! In neither of the incidents I outlined above did I do anything to disturb or incur the wrath of the little blighters, they each stung me in unprovoked attacks as I rode along roads 600 miles apart!

TBH I haven't been stung that many times by wasps, its horseflies that really like attacking me had five in one incident in the Schwarzwald and often have had multiple bites but whilst annoying and uncomfortable it's asp stings that hurt (me at least) most! This latest is still painful and it's taking all my will power not to scratch at it! Grrrr!

[peetee]

tempura wasps, a japanese bee keeper recipe - serve as a fritter with sweet chilli sauce.

oh the cooking turns the venom into a simple protein.

Forget the chilli sauce. hang up another tin with a mix of strawberry jam and hot water. wait an hour then pour the invertebrate/fruit conserve on your fritter.

[Vorpal]

Wasps aren't vicious. They usually only sting in self defense.

They are pollinators, and their numbers, like bees, are going down, so please do what you can to help, rather than harm them.

[Brucey]

wasps are not terribly important pollinators AFAICT; they don't harvest nectar like bees do and (again unlike bees) their colonies don't have any significant numbers until after the all the fruit crops are set. They have some value for sure in the garden but this time of year on, they (drunkenly I presume) sting in a virtually unprovoked fashion. Speaking as someone who is violently allergic to wasp stings (I swell up like Quasimodo and I stay swollen for days) I harbour no love for them whatsoever. This year, two wasp's nests have deprived me of access to a good part of my garden and I have lost pretty much my entire soft fruit crop because I can't (safely) get at it.

cheers

[Vorpal]

Brucey, I'm sorry that you suffer. And that your garden has. It is possible to safely move wasps nests. I moved one from my garden to the nearby forest early in the summer.

Also wasps do drink nectar. It's one of their favorite foods. They just don't collect it like bees do.

https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/do-wasps-pollinate.html

[Brucey]

I think I'll stick with my earlier 'wasps are not terribly important pollinators' comment. I am a former beekeeper and even so I think the role of bees in pollination is somewhat overstated. In years when there have been few bees, other insects have stepped up. I think that if you see a late crop of (say raspberries) being pollinated by wasps as claimed in that link, it may well just mean that other insects won't go near it..... because it is covered in wasps.

cheers

[kwackers]

I don't agree with the title of this thread ...I don't think wasps are vicious .I don't bother them and mostly they don't bother me. I'm 65 this year and I have been stung by a wasp maybe 6 or 7 times, always my fault ,not paying attention... I think we need to be a bit more wasp tolerant ....

They must really hate you! I've only ever been stung by a wasp once. In fact I've only ever been stung once!

Horseflies otoh, I'm a veritable walking lunchbox! And IMO horseflies are much worse, a wasp sting hurts but not for long and then it's gone. My shins still have red patches from horseflies that are many months old.

[foxyrider]

I don't agree with the title of this thread ...I don't think wasps are vicious .I don't bother them and mostly they don't bother me. I'm 65 this year and I have been stung by a wasp maybe 6 or 7 times, always my fault ,not paying attention... I think we need to be a bit more wasp tolerant ....

They must really hate you! I've only ever been by a wasp once. In fact I've only ever been stung once!

Horseflies otoh, I'm a veritable walking lunchbox! And IMO horseflies are much worse, a wasp sting hurts but not for long and then it's gone. My shins still have red patches from horseflies that are many months old.

+1 for the horseflies, they should be renamed to man eating flies!

[Brucey]

horseflies are nasty enough but at least you have a chance with those; when working out of doors without a shirt on, you can feel the little sods landing on you (they somehow know to land on your back and it feels little different to a trickle of sweat...) and you have a chance to get them before they get you.

FWIW I swell up about x20 less with horsefly bites than wasp stings, and the swelling lasts nothing like as long.

cheers

[Des49]

I wouldn't worry about the wasps, it is the establishment of the Asian Hornets that we should be worried about. Hornets are much more aggressive and wasps generally are nothing to fear, it is people panicking and flapping around that makes things much worse.

In the last few years I have had 2 wasp stings, one flew up between my camera and my face and stung me on my lip, after an hour the sting was surprisingly ok.

Much to the amusement of one of my daughters, I was stung (I think by a wasp) just below my left eye in Brittany last year. Cycling and it fell in behind my glasses and stung as it exited below the lens. That side of my face remained very swollen for several days, my daughter just laughed everytime she looked at me!

[crazydave789]

tempura wasps, a japanese bee keeper recipe - serve as a fritter with sweet chilli sauce.

oh the cooking turns the venom into a simple protein.

Forget the chilli sauce. hang up another tin with a mix of strawberry jam and hot water. wait an hour then pour the invertebrate/fruit conserve on your fritter.

not sure if you will cook out the stings with that.

there used to be a kids book on making a giant wasp sandwich