Insects

[Mike1979]

I won’t touch wasp nests if they are in the paddocks, only if they are in areas where we go a lot, like the garden / stables.

Wondering if many wasps built ground nests last summer only to then get drowned in the wet winter. Might explain the lack of them this year.

@shakey jake will be able to explain it alot better then me.

I never had much of an issue with wasps until we started keeping bees and as I said its "upsetting" to see a decent colony destroyed by wasps. However strong colonies of bees will destroy a smaller colony of bees as well..... but in many cases thats much easier to deal with then wasps unless you can find the nest. We have tried all sorts of wasp traps over the years but when they are on a mission its often very difficult to stop them and moving hives is not always easy or practical.

My view , like most things, if its not bothering you or your activities then leave well alone if you wish

 

[shakey jake]

I won’t touch wasp nests if they are in the paddocks, only if they are in areas where we go a lot, like the garden / stables.

Wondering if many wasps built ground nests last summer only to then get drowned in the wet winter. Might explain the lack of them this year.

Wasps dont over winter in old nests. Once mated the queens try to find a safe place to sleep over the winter. Cold doesnt affect them really the only thing that kills queens is in ability to feed once out of hibernation. Cold snap in march or april.
I havent got a clue why they are in low numbers this year, all signs looked good for a bumper wasp year

 

[shakey jake]

@shakey jake will be able to explain it alot better then me.

I never had much of an issue with wasps until we started keeping bees and as I said its "upsetting" to see a decent colony destroyed by wasps. However strong colonies of bees will destroy a smaller colony of bees as well..... but in many cases thats much easier to deal with then wasps unless you can find the nest. We have tried all sorts of wasp traps over the years but when they are on a mission its often very difficult to stop them and moving hives is not always easy or practical.

My view , like most things, if its not bothering you or your activities then leave well alone if you wish

The only traps i reccomend are wasp bane, 99% efficient.
Most traps allow some wasps to escape and they then become a feeding station, you catch loads of wasps but wasps are still about.
Sadly wasp bane have gone bankrupt.
Got to try a new trap this year

 

[TringSaint]

Wasps dont over winter in old nests. Once mated the queens try to find a safe place to sleep over the winter. Cold doesnt affect them really the only thing that kills queens is in ability to feed once out of hibernation. Cold snap in march or april.
I havent got a clue why they are in low numbers this year, all signs looked good for a bumper wasp year

Maybe the cold in April is the cause then.
It was bloody chilly here for sometime - frosty mornings and struggling to get above 5 or 6 degrees for many days.

 

[shakey jake]

Maybe the cold in April is the cause then.
It was bloody chilly here for sometime - frosty mornings and struggling to get above 5 or 6 degrees for many days.

That could be it

 

[VSS]

More insects about is a good sign.
I think later mowing of roadside verges (to give the wild flowers a chance to seed) has been a contributory factor.

 

[Tim.243]

Wasps dont over winter in old nests. Once mated the queens try to find a safe place to sleep over the winter. Cold doesnt affect them really the only thing that kills queens is in ability to feed once out of hibernation. Cold snap in march or april.
I havent got a clue why they are in low numbers this year, all signs looked good for a bumper wasp year

As a kid there used to be each year lots of lorries go past with huge timbers (giant trunks) then not long after a few hornets would turn up, jam jar and piece of thin ally plate as they started to eat through the thin cardboard

 

[jall55]

The commercial value of our bees is not worth the effort from a financial perspective ...probably ends up being less then £1 per hour if you did the maths. Their value from a pollination perspective massively outweighs the benefit of wasps ... so on that basis any nests I find near our bees get destroyed.

If you are happy with wasps then leave them alone...but respect those who arent a fan and destroy them.

Dont forget though mate - tame bees pollination pales into insignificance when compared to the wild ones

 

[jall55]

More insects about is a good sign.
I think later mowing of roadside verges (to give the wild flowers a chance to seed) has been a contributory factor.

And SFI - round us - Also many of the shoots round us are using mixes of game covers that last many seasons - in part because they can be so hard to establish with the dry weather we seem to keep getting - this lets them have somewhere to overwinter and hunt early and late season

 

[jall55]

Our meadows are absolutely covered in insects - butterflies galore - actually got a survey on them next week

I also created some bee banks - for the mining type and these have had hundreds upon hundreds of them digging and egg laying

 

[Mike1979]

Dont forget though mate - tame bees pollination pales into insignificance when compared to the wild ones

Agreed...but no plans to kill any wild bees ... just wasps

Any just to clarify...tame our bees are not ... they do WTF they like

 

[Dunwaters]

Most of the insects around me are gone, the estimate is 90% loss over the last 20 years or so. Benefits are being able to leave a window open and the lights on all night, I don’t get attacked by clegs in the garden and that annoying halo of flies buzzing around your head for the entire summer is gone. I haven’t seen one of those big cock chafers for a long time.
Downside, the bats are all gone, the house martins and swallows are gone, the flycatchers are gone, no cuckoo, very few warblers. I have lots of bees in a fair selection of species and some butterflies, but not many.
I’d love to have the bats and birds back, I’m not so keen on not being able to leave a window open or being eaten alive every evening.

 

[TringSaint]

Most of the insects around me are gone, the estimate is 90% loss over the last 20 years or so. Benefits are being able to leave a window open and the lights on all night, I don’t get attacked by clegs in the garden and that annoying halo of flies buzzing around your head for the entire summer is gone. I haven’t seen one of those big cock chafers for a long time.
Downside, the bats are all gone, the house martins and swallows are gone, the flycatchers are gone, no cuckoo, very few warblers. I have lots of bees in a fair selection of species and some butterflies, but not many.
I’d love to have the bats and birds back, I’m not so keen on not being able to leave a window open or being eaten alive every evening.

We have plenty of insects and bats but few wasps (not moaning). Bee numbers seem ok too and butterflies, but we do have 5 budlea in the garden along with lots of lavender so it’s a pollinator friendly garden.

 

[Longstrider]

There seems to be a noticeable increase in moths and night-flying bugs around my way this year in comparison to the previous few years. Also, fewer wasps, but just as many hornets in the woods. I 'shared' a hornets-worth of sausage roll with one yesterday lunchtime Once it had flown off the dog got the bit the hornet had had a chew on.

 

[Cootmeurer]

Here, I see flies, especially the biting flies, rise and fall with how wet the year has been.
This year is a very wet year, so the flies are bad but we have also a lot of fly predators. During daylight hours I have hundreds of dragonflies about and they seem to do a good job on the smaller flies.

For control of the horseflies, deer flies, and blood flies (whatever you call those little housfly looking bastages with thr red abdomen) I use a sticky cow. I have thin wood cutouts of cow and sheep silhouettes, painted black, with black carpet scrap ears and tails that flip with wind. Piece of pipe affixed vertically allows it mount on a small post and spin with wind, Then I coat the entire thing in tangle trap sticky glue. The smaller flies hit and stick. The big flies hit and get their wings gummed and are effectively taken out

The only drawback is the damn ram, that occasionally feels he needs to go fight them every so often.