To my left is an unsatisfying rose; mostly vigourous stem and leaf. When it does bother to flower (once a year) it's not a particularly interesting one either. I give over contemplating raindrops and think about the logistics of uprooting the rose. I think thick stems and thorns - lots of digging, pain and misery. My eye travels from its roots and up the wall assessing the scale of the project.
What's that? I wonder why the wall has developed a curious bulge - almost as if someone has got behind the stonework and blown it out like a bubble-gum bubble about to go pop. Nah. As if! Just as if!
Hmm. Perhaps not. It turns out to be a wasps' nest. Barely a metre from my door and about as big as a rugby ball. Eeeek! Sorry wasp lovers - but this nest is going to have to go. I appreciate these stripey b******s have their place in the scheme of things but it's not going to be within an arm's length of my kitchen door.
Tomorrow
PS For a truly great wasp extermination tale read this. Just glad I didn't know about it at the time.
Edited to add:
Well, our exterminator arrived and partly out of cowardice the Glam Ass was sent to Make Sure He Did It Properly. Afraid of wasps? Moi? You bet. Really I just didn't want to go out in the rain.
What a hero - our man just cut the nest away, tossed it in the back of his van, puffed a little noxious dust in, trousered a hefty wad and drove off in the direction of Craven Arms. No protective clothing. No whinging. Job done. Am happy to recommend his services.
17 comments:
Oh boy, I do hope that the removal will be done without damage to anyone.
Isn't it odd that the wasps would select such a spot. Hoping they won't try it again right there.
Best wishes.
How well camouflaged it was - sneeky buggers! I hate wasps (they are called yellow jackets over here).
Bees and most bugs are lovely little critters, but wasps, flies, and mosquitoes fair game in my book.
Even the most ardent nature-lover would rehouse them !
They were very fond of my mother's garden shed and used to come back every couple of years , much to her annoyance .Creatures of habit , perhaps .
Wow thats one huge wasps nest. Good luck with the removal....maybe the exterminator will take the rose bush with it :-)
A x
Kill them all, my last wasp sting sent me to the emergency room and I now have to carry an epi pen to prevent me dying.
Wasps are notorious for seeking locations near a house to nest. We had a small one under our back deck last year. I am seriously contemplating hanging a fake wasp nest as I am told they are very territorial and if a nest is in the vicinity, they tend to stay away. Hopefully "they" are right.
Hope the removal is uneventful for all concerned.
Fabulous construction though! We have wasps in one of our compost bins and I am trying hard to live and let live. Ran away quite fast today though.
Couldn't agree more about the beauty of the nest - not only that but it was the exact colour of the stone work. I think it's proximity to our door was the issue - this is early in the wasp season and I could see them getting busier and busier as the year progressed.
Your stonework is the same colour as ours - perfect camouflage for a wasps nest, and we have one each summer. I'm a coward, and TGD isn't to climb a ladder, so we may be getting help from an exterminator too.
Having been stung in the past, I hate wasps!
Being stung by a wasp is an accident. The wasp doesn't really want to sting you and of course you don't want to be stung. So you have to make clear to the wasp you aren't attacking him. Best way I heard to do this is to put a pot of jam at the bottom of the garden. The wasps will all fly away down there and when they come back they will be too full to contemplate anything like stinging you or even invading your breakfast.
We have one on the underside of the barn roof, along with dove nests and swallow nests. We are just leaving it be for now as it's a fair distance from the house and a fisherman friend is our wasp-man. He removes the nest and winkles out the grubs for bait. Keeps them in the freezer!
Last year we had an underground wasp nest, when it was excavated I could not believe the beauty of it, all made of basically cardboard - which is I suppose what happens when you eat garden furniture and spit it back out - little cells and pillars supporting the nest tier of cells. Fascinating.
dont know about fascinating - cant bear the dratted critturs, the badgers had unearthed a nest overnight in the grass verge and spread it all over the lane together with some very annoyed wasps - so the dogs had to wade in to sniff - arrgghhhhhh
Can't deny they are fascinating architects and engineers even. Their nests are wonderful.
I guess I understand why they are so defensive when threatened - we would be the same ourselves. But still can't bring myself to feel kindly towards them - except at a distance.
What a good thing you were contemplating the rose and saw it. Our electrician found one in the attic and kindly attacked it with a long reach spray. I hate the things.
By the way, it's been said that if you cut a rose right down it may encourage it to regrow and flower.
I dibbed out and got a man in when we had a humungous wasps nest outside our bedroom window last year - still makes me shudder just thinking about it! I hate wasps.
That reminds me - the row of little air holes on the riser of my (former) front door step was being colonised by wasps last June, and I sealed them up (hoping all the wasps were out, of course) with little patches of duct tape. And forgot to remove those patches or to explain them to my buyer when I moved house the other day.... Ah well, it can remain a mystery to him. Every house needs a mystery item for the new occupant to ponder.
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