Look Out For The Thin Red Line...

Finished throwing stuff out of my shed this afternoon...now it's all neat and tidy and practically every tin and basket is neatly labelled with the contents...

Biggest problem was fighting off the endless stream of drunken wasps...sozzled after eating windfall apples they seemed hell-bent on stinging me...settling stealthily on my leg or arm until I swiped them off and squashed them with the fly swatter.

I'm not allergic to the sting as such, but the site tends to swell alarmingly and takes forever to go down...remedies simply don't work...either old-fashioned vinegar or the over the counter sprays etc which guarantee to relieve the itching and swelling and do no such thing...end up going to the Doctor who tuts and prescribes anti-histamines and reminds me to watch out for the thin red line...

Haven't seen any of the Asian Hornets we've been warned about...for a while the news was full of scary stories about these giant creatures and a recent survey concluded that 17% of Irish people had actually seen one of the beasties...no-one asked if we'd seen them though.

Wasps are good chaps when they aren't in a stinging frame of mind...or drunk on ripe apples...they pollinate flowering plants just as well as bees do, but I swear a wasp stings because it thinks it's a bit of a laugh to see a human dancing about cursing, whereas bees only sting when

desperate...then they die. Probably why they don't sting for fun.

One of my Gt. Grandfathers died rather horribly when he ate cake that had a bee on it...it stung his throat as he swallowed and choked him when his throat swelled up.

Another Gt Grandfather kept bee-hives on the edge of the wood near his home...when he died, no-one told the bees and they flew away never to be seen again... leaving behind hives full of honey from the wild flowers.

Of course no-one deliberately keeps wasps, but sometimes their nests are found in attics or halfway up a chimney in a deserted cottage...the nest is made of paper...the wasps gather wood from fence posts and the like and chew it until it's a pulp. That pulp is used to build the nest...it looks and feels like strong brown paper though is actually really fragile.

Each compartment for a wasp larvae is a perfect hexagon...I've only seen one wasps nest...it was in Felicity's attic and the man who found it put it into a cardboard box to show her...it was truly a beautiful work of art. There were still some fat larvae left in their neat little cradles, though the wasps themselves had long gone.

[Neo7]

Probable still on there way over on the boat Vashti !!

[Hidden in reply to Neo7]

Could well be!

[pergola]

Remember the time when I sat on a wasp and another one that down my shirt and stang me!!

[Hidden in reply to pergola]

I once put a sandal on that had a wasp inside...not nice at all!

[Azure_Sky]

You've answered a question I have often asked, which is what role do wasps play? I didn't know they pollinated plants.

[Hidden in reply to Azure_Sky]

They eat caterpillars as well...

[Lyd12]

I was picking blackberries in my garden years ago and as I leaned into the bushes two wasps went up my skirt! I danced around frantically in the garden then rushed indoors to strip off! More recently I was helping my husband put wasp powder on an entrance to a nest in our gutter area late at night when they have all gone in, when one got into my hood and stung my neck. I felt pretty ill and in a lot of pain, a bag of frozen peas gave me the best relief. Strsngely, my son in Sydney tells me they have no wasps there - just everything else! iris x

[Hidden in reply to Lyd12]

For such small creatures they certainly pack a punch with their sting...!

[Nikkers]

I have a friend who keeps bees. He has lots of hives, some in his garden and others that he has taken to various areas around for the different flora. He took these over when his Father died many years ago. I remember him standing in the garden telling the bees that his Father has passed and he would be looking after them from then on and he's never lost any. People laugh when you tell them this, but it's a fact that this happens and it 's just another one of those things that can't be explained?

I also had a wasps nest in my shed last year. It was at the starting stage, so quite small...about the size of a golf ball. It reminded me of those dried pods that you get from a certain plant (can't remember what it's called) and looked like a paper Chinese lantern- beautifully worked.

[Hidden in reply to Nikkers]

There's a variety which is edible I think...not wasps nests, but the Chinese Lantern...can't think of it's proper name.

It's odd about telling the bees when there's been a death in the family...sometimes there is no logical explanation...'Ours is not to wonder why?'

[Nikkers in reply to Hidden]

How true!

[Azure_Sky in reply to Hidden]

I had a great aunt who kept bees, I remember her telling me how important it was to tell the bees about family events.

Here is an article about Chinese Lanterns. They are inclined to run riot if grown in good soil. They are best grown in a container.

gardenersnet.com/flower/chi...

[nancye]

For itching dab the bite with very very hot water. Use a swab or a twist of cloth to touch just the bite area: the water should be hotter than your hand can stand - close to boiling. The heat draws the histamine up and it doesn't build back up and cause itching again for quite a while. Works better than anything else in my experience. Nancy

[Hidden in reply to nancye]

Thank you for that Nancy...I'll try anything once and that sounds like excellent advice.

[Minushabens]

I have issues with wasps building nests in my shed. If this photo works (I aren't sure how then you can see a live one from this summer right next to a dead one from last that never took hold. They are like Chinese lanterns though...they just disintegrate in your hand.

s29.postimg.org/rygg96sl3/b...

Apologies if that doesn't work; I can't see how to put a photo in a message reply.