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JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
 Posted: 19-09-2009 19:51 Post subject: |
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Those "end-of-Summer dozy" wasps may have found a crop of fermenting windfallen apples or pears to gorge on. We had a large and rather ill-tended garden full of the things in my childhood. This time of year there were some day-long noisy wasp-parties in the edges of the beds, where the windfallen fruit was raked. Sozzled wasps were incapable of flight: like men out on the town, they would simply stagger from one open joint to another. In their case, the joints were Conference Pears in an advanced state of fermentation.
Being horrid sprogs, my brother and I would begrudge the wasps this fun and steal the fruit to pack into some large earthenware jars. This was our "cider." We must have known it was revolting stuff and never drank it ourselves. With the addition of a dog turd or three, it was something to offer guests who came to play.  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21362 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-09-2009 10:18 Post subject: |
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Apparently wasps are doing Ok around our way:
Falmouth wasps' nest cleared thanks to Packet
10:10am Sunday 20th September 2009
Walkers on a Falmouth footpath can relax after exterminators got rid of a nasty wasps’ nest they read about in the Packet.
Last week we reported that at least four people and a dog had been stung walking on the shortcut next to the oil works between Goldenbank and Marlborough House.
Bill Mossman from Terminate pest control got in touch to say he and his son Ky would clear the nest.
On Thursday the pair got to work on what turned out to be three wasps’ nests on the narrow lane.
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fpfalmouth/4638019.Falmouth_wasps__nest_cleared_thanks_to_Packet/
But oddly enough, I use a footpath several times a week that crosses the one mentioned, and I've hardy seen a wasp all year! (One did get into a car I was travelling in last week, but soon left again.) |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13555 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-09-2009 16:14 Post subject: |
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| rynner2 wrote: | | But oddly enough, I use a footpath several times a week that crosses the one mentioned, and I've hardy seen a wasp all year! (One did get into a car I was travelling in last week, but soon left again.) |
It wasn't driving, was it? |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-08-2010 13:20 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Six-foot wasp nest found in Southampton pub
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-10871240
The wasps nest Oxford University experts have verified the nest is Britain's biggest ever
A 6ft-high wasp nest has been discovered in the attic of a Southampton pub.
Pest controller Sean Whelan was called in to deal with the 6ft by 5ft (1.8m by 1.5m) nest which housed a total of about 500,000 wasps.
Mr Whelan said after exterminating the insects, the nest had to remain where it was because it was too big to remove from the attic.
Oxford University experts have verified the nest is Britain's biggest ever.
They said they thought it was also the largest found across the world in the past 50 years.
The pub which housed the nest has asked to remain anonymous.
'Bit scary'
Mr Whelan told BBC Radio Solent: "The wasps will never go back in it, so we will just leave it to disintegrate.
"There were actually eight wasps nests in the loft but I actually did not spot [the biggest one] until I killed off the first, second, third...
"I had been staring at it for quite some time but I did not recognise it because it was very big. It was a bit scary [but] it was mesmerizing and very challenging."
"I think it has been a very mild spring and obviously summer has been quite dry - that's helped," Mr Whelan added.
"The experts feel [the nest] has lasted through the winter from last year [and] that is why it is so big."
The nest is 15 times bigger than the UK average and nearly as big as a Smart car, which is slightly longer at 8ft 10in by 5ft 1in (2.69m by 1.54m).
Nationally, pest control experts revealed on Wednesday that the number of calls to remove wasp nests more than trebled last month.
The increase has been blamed on the warm weather and household nests going untreated last year as people have been cutting back their spending during the recession. |
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| Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5377 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 07:53 Post subject: |
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I'm sure we all misread that headline.
Well, maybe just some of us...
Where does a 6-foot wasp nest? Anywhere it damn well wants. |
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| eburacum Papo-Furado
Great Old One Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Total posts: 1587 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 09:12 Post subject: |
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| Perhaps it just means that the wasps have six feet... |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 12:26 Post subject: |
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| eburacum wrote: | | Perhaps it just means that the wasps have six feet... |
I prefer the idea of a six foot long wasp. |
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| eburacum Papo-Furado
Great Old One Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Total posts: 1587 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 13:53 Post subject: |
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| A six foot long bee might be useful for making honey. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 13:56 Post subject: |
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| eburacum wrote: | | A six foot long bee might be useful for making honey. |
Lots of honey! But who would try and take the honey off him? |
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| Heckler20 The Sockpuppet of
Cthulhu's Prodigal Son Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Total posts: 4702 Location: In the Nostril of The Crawling Chaos Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 13:56 Post subject: |
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| I'm getting a real buzz from this thread. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17895 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 14:20 Post subject: |
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| Oi, beehive yourself. |
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| Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5377 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-08-2010 01:31 Post subject: |
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| eburacum wrote: | | Perhaps it just means that the wasps have six feet... |
But then it would surely be "Six-footed wasp"...
Which is kind of redundant anyway, since most wasps, barring deformity, injury, or idle schoolboys have six feet. |
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| river_styx Chaos Magnet.
Pain Joined: 08 Feb 2002 Total posts: 2146 Location: Between Here aaaaaaand....There. Age: 35 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-08-2010 12:02 Post subject: |
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| The Mighty Styx got stuck by a wasp the other day. Luckily I'm not allergic, but it got me right in the back of my head and for a second the world started spinning at a much faster rate. In fact it was quite a buzz! |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-10-2013 23:49 Post subject: |
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China hornets kill 41 in north since July
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24367050
People stung by hornet in Shaanxi province, north China
People injured by hornet attacks in Shaanxi province are receiving treatment in local hospitals
Attacks by hornets in northern China have killed 41 people since July, state-run media report.
More than 1,600 people have also been injured by stings in Shaanxi province, according to China News Agency.
It says 206 people are still being treated in hospital, with 37 patients remaining in a critical condition.
Local officials have been quoted as saying that drier and warmer weather this year may have contributed to a rise in hornet numbers in the area.
Environmental activists have also blamed rapid urbanisation for worsening the problem as more rural land is swallowed up for urban development, intruding into habitats where hornets hunt and build their nests.
The cities of Angkang, Hanzhong and Shangluo have been worst affected by the spate of attacks over the past three months.
The provincial government has dispatched pest control experts to help deal with the situation.
China News Agency says local police and fire-fighters have been given equipment and protective clothes to help remove and destroy hornet nests.
Hornet attacks are a recurring problem in Shaanxi province in particular, but the authorities have released no casualty figures for previous years.
Zhao Fang, a city government official in Ankong, told the China Daily newspaper that hornet attacks had increased in recent years as the "local ecological environment improved".
Winters have been getting milder and summers hotter and more humid in Shaanxi, which may have helped caused hornet numbers there to rise.
The Chinese term for hornets is "hu feng" - those behind the deadly attacks this summer appear to be the Asian giant hornet, or Vespa mandarinia.
They can grow up to 5cm long with a 6mm sting.
The area is also home to the smaller Asian hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax |
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kamalktk Great Old One Joined: 05 Feb 2011 Total posts: 705 Gender: Unknown |
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