What lives in your hightower

[Magyar Vadász]

After returning back home from a very lengthy series of craft fairs and trade shows, I decided to go out with the forester earlier this evening to look around, especially in the high towers as we have a number of them. Am pretty glad we did - in our favourite a hornet decided to nest there and have a large family.

I just found out hornets can sting multiple times due to a lack of barb on the stinger (twice in my case). As the high towers are enclosed, more like high boxes than high seats, the local beekeeper has offered to smoke out the nest for us. From the same person have just learnt WD40 is the best pain suppressant, so out with the germolene - man its really painful to sit down.

 

[wildfowler1]

Brave man that smokes out Hornets. Wf1

 

[teyhan1]

In my younger pest control days, I remember one job that involved A large Hornets nest in a bird box.
After assessing the situation from a distance I geared up in respirator, beekeeper net and the deadly but effective DR5 ( a high pressure pesticide applicator )
I then ran full pelt at the Hornets DR5 blazing, hit the nest with the lance and then dived in to the nearest bush available while all hell let loose.
It was like watching the battle of britain with them flying around attacking each other and anything else that moved. I stayed very still until the coast was clear

 

[mudman]

bats in one and a swallow's nest in another.

Hornets, no thanks, sounds very painful!!

 

[csl]

I know it's easy to say from the comfort of my hornet-free armchair, but hornets are generally pretty laid back as far as yellow/black stripy stinging things go. You must have really p*ssed them off!

 

[badbob]

Good reminder.

I get stung every year with wasps and hornets
yes and this year

they love to make nests in wooden high seats
old pheasant feeders
this year in the water bowser.

Pays to do a visual check

 

[243 Stalker]

Just a word of caution, a few years back I got stung by wasps 6 times in the space of 2 weeks whilst working on the shoot. A month later I got stung again at a friends BBQ and had a serious reaction to the sting. I was told at the time of treatment that your body only has a certain resilience to wasp stings and I had crossed the limit, this obviously varies from person to person so be careful.
ATB 243 Stalker.

 

[teyhan1]

Just a word of caution, a few years back I got stung by wasps 6 times in the space of 2 weeks whilst working on the shoot. A month later I got stung again at a friends BBQ and had a serious reaction to the sting. I was told at the time of treatment that your body only has a certain resilience to wasp stings and I had crossed the limit, this obviously varies from person to person so be careful.
ATB 243 Stalker.

One of the reasons I gave up in the end. I found that I was becoming more sensitised to stings as time went on. It was probably only a matter of time until anaphalatic shock got me.

 

[csl]

Allergies are a funny thing... with repeated exposure the body can either build up a tolerance or do the exact opposite and build up an extreme intolerance... there is no way to tell which, and it can happen over a very short time period too.

I've been cutting leylandii and I'm sitting here scratching my arms as I seem to have built up a reaction to the sap in the last 5 or 6 years.... never had the problem before then.

 

[Wheesht!]

Allergies are a funny thing... with repeated exposure the body can either build up a tolerance or do the exact opposite and build up an extreme intolerance...

I keep bees and am having to come to terms with this.

Last time I was working the hive I received a single sting and within 60 seconds was soaked from head to toe in sweat. My heart rate was racing out of control, I was vomiting and suffering extreme light sensitivity.

I'm not keen on repeating the experience and will probably have to give my bees up....

 

[finnbear270]

I think that Wasps & Hornets, & all things winged & stinged, tend to build the nest very close to wood, & as in this case actually on a wooden surface, also hard wood shrubs can be the nesting material they gather, I was backed into a thick bed of Bullrush margin while sitting for Fox one afternoon, all was deadly quiet, then a really pronounced rasping sound was heard, I thought maybe mouse or something, but it turned out to be Wasps rasping off the cellulose from the stems, obviously to make pulp for those fantastic nests they construct, So maybe wooden house rafters or high seat timbers are high on the list of preferred sites to build?

 

[teyhan1]

I keep bees and am having to come to terms with this.

Last time I was working the hive I received a single sting and within 60 seconds was soaked from head to toe in sweat. My heart rate was racing out of control, I was vomiting and suffering extreme light sensitivity.

I'm not keen on repeating the experience and will probably have to give my bees up....

You were extremely lucky.
Anaphalactic shock will kill you, usually by suffocation as it will cause a restriction in your airway.
You must talk to your doctor, who will probably issue you with a needle pen. They are similar to the ones used in emergencies that allow you to go through clothes etc. It will be pre-loaded with adrenaline. If you don't have one then the next sting maybe lights out. You may not even make it out of your garden!!

Correction, it is called anaphylaxsis. It accounts for 20-30 deaths per year and you have it. See your doctor and ask for an EpiPen

 

[moose]

Climbed one of our towers a couple of years back and a barn owl flew out, when i opened the door the stench was terrible, there was about two inches of pellets on the floor and half a dozen dead voles, and in the corner behind where the seat was resting she had six eggs.

​Moose

 

[Tom270]

The problem with anaphylaxis is its subsequent exposures that cause the trouble. While not wishing to prescribe, I would recommend everyone out in the wilds often alone carries an antihistamine. My personal preference is for Piriton (Chlorampheramine) 4mg not the one a day, and I (adult) would take two at the first sign of trouble. As has been said if you think you have an allergy do see your GP and discuss the options. Epipen may be the way they are an auto injector, needle in press cap hard and job done. They only work if they are with you so keep one in your stalking bag. Put it on your 3 B's list. Also if your tongue feels funny, you go wheezy and or short of breath call 999 immediately with your nearest road access point and set off for it pronto. I was stung by a wasp for the second time walking the dog last year and my lips and tongue went numb and started to swell I got to the car and took antihistamine, no further treatment required, but do not wait to see if it gets better before summoning help and seeking treatment it can get worse very quickly. Do talk to your GP.

 

[landkeeper]

many years ago i was cutting a feed ride with my headkeeper, i cut a football sized wasp nest clean in half with a scythe it was like something from a cartoon ,there was a ball of airborne wasps in an instant looking for the culprit i ran one way and he another both of us jumped into a nearby pond and kept ducking under the water ,the wasps cleared of in a minute or two but he had got stung within what seemed like seconds he turned into the elephant man!!! his face arms and upper body swelled up he had great red hives all over him, his eyes started to swell he was pumping out sweat and hyperventilating i threw him in the truck and got him to the farm where the boss rushed him to hospital a couple of hours and an injection later he was back to normal .he had to carry tablets with him from then on just in case it ever happened again it was a few scary moments for all concerned

 

[Yorkie]

Talking of Allergies aquired later in life. A Friend i Stalk with has Stalked for over 30 years with no problems, but over last couple of years he has develped a nasty reaction to Deer Hair. Coughing, nose streaming and eyes swelling like Hay Fever. Not good.

Yorkie.

 

[finnbear270]

Talking of Allergies aquired later in life. A Friend i Stalk with has Stalked for over 30 years with no problems, but over last couple of years he has develped a nasty reaction to Deer Hair. Coughing, nose streaming and eyes swelling like Hay Fever. Not good.

Yorkie.

Might be a good time to start wildfowling?

 

[Yorkie]

Might be a good time to start wildfowling?

Top idea. We have a large Pond on our lease so he can sit with his Lab and his Shotgun .

Yorkie.

 

[news of the world]

Once upon a time a long long time ago, I was asked to bring something from the countryside to the science lesson at school.
I walked to school every day and had passed a small wasps nest hung from a tree every day for about the last month.I hatched a cunning plan with a strong polythene bag and a can of easy start.
So I collected said nest in the bag and injected the Easy Start! result dead wasps!
Teacher was most impressed at my ingenuity, that was until he tried to cut the nest in half.
From that day I learned two very important things.
1. Young people can run faster than the teacher!
2. Easy Start does not kill wasps it just send them to sleep!

 

[MJ75]

I've had problems with barn owls. The tower has not been adapted so they can no longer get in. The mess they make is unbelievable.