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The Bas…..s got me 11 times

C

Cabinetman

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Location
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Ian
So just headed back indoors and was pulling up a tall weed when I felt the first sting, then lots more, ran inside and killed 6 that were on me and my clothes.
Small yellowjackets or Wasps as we call them.
I’m not sure if it’s the same in the uk but over here they spray you when alarmed and then all hell lets loose.
Pic of 6 on my ankle.

IMG_4583.jpeg
 
Sympathies, the smaller ground nesting species of Wasps in the UK are the most aggressive, go immediately into swarm attack mode when nest is disturbed.
 
CHJ said:
Sympathies, the smaller ground nesting species of Wasps in the UK are the most aggressive, go immediately into swarm attack mode when nest is disturbed.
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Yes, that sounds pretty much what happened, I’ve now located the nest, a small hole in the pea gravel, will eradicate them when the Grandchildren have gone. Looking at where it is I must have trodden right on it.
And yes Roger they are all still stinging! Lots!
 
Almost certainly yellow jackets. My wife got lit up a few years ago and just stood there because she had no idea what was going on.
Apparently they didn't exist in the suburbs.

As a kid it was always fun watch the adults burn out the nests with gasoline.
 
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Would they be the same as the ones we encountered in the Yosemite Ian? The place was swarming with them and they were a real nuisance. Very small maybe 10mm long and aggressive.
 
Sorry to hear about this Ian. The neighbours son told me how when he tried to clean up her garden (maybe an excellent excuse for allowing it to overrun with weeds and become a bit of a carp-fest) for her, a wasp nest was found. My plan was to soon go round and clear up the overgrown weeds/greenery that is pushing into my fence.

But, not I'm double thinking it. I hate (well, fearful more like) wasps and not sure I'd survive 11 stabs!!
 
I used to live in western North Carolina around apple orchards. Yellow jackets were a common threat and they can be brutal if you stumble onto a nest entrance. Each can sting many times and release a chemical that triggers more to join in on the fun.
 
My dad got stung by a wasp on his neck in the 70's and as a result it nearly killed him as all his glands began to inflate and he nearly suffocated. Somehow he managed to get the swelling under control and survived, but since that day I recollect he had an unabinding hatred of wasps - Rob
 
shafiq said:
Sorry to hear about this Ian. The neighbours son told me how when he tried to clean up her garden (maybe an excellent excuse for allowing it to overrun with weeds and become a bit of a carp-fest) for her, a wasp nest was found. My plan was to soon go round and clear up the overgrown weeds/greenery that is pushing into my fence.

But, not I'm double thinking it. I hate (well, fearful more like) wasps and not sure I'd survive 11 stabs!!
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It’s actually not as bad as I would have imagined it to be, and yes @Mike I think that line of 6 on my ankle was just one of the blighters and a whole load more did join the party.

Woodbloke said:
My dad got stung by a wasp on his neck in the 70's and as a result it nearly killed him as all his glands began to inflate and he nearly suffocated. Somehow he managed to get the swelling under control and survived, but since that day I recollect he had an unabinding hatred of wasps - Rob
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well thank goodness that wasn’t my response, he was lucky to survive and lucky for you too Rob, an acquaintance died after drinking out of a can with a wasp in it, his throat swelled up, very quick way to go.
 
I try to live and let live in the garden but draw the line at wasps and hornets. I have a can of spray at hand that will throw a jet of a foam like substance 6m, enough to reach the roof of the barn. Had ground nesting wasps by greenhouse door last year, a quick squirt saw them off and they’ve not been back.

Hope you heal quickly Ian .
 
My wife swatted a wasp in the house once and went to chuck it outside, unfortunately I was working at the threshold crouched down, as she threw the semi alive thing out of the door it went straight down my butt crack and had enough energy in it to sting me a couple of times. That made me jump a tadge.
 
AndyP said:
I try to live and let live in the garden but draw the line at wasps and hornets. I have a can of spray at hand that will throw a jet of a foam like substance 6m, enough to reach the roof of the barn. Had ground nesting wasps by greenhouse door last year, a quick squirt saw them off and they’ve not been back.

Hope you heal quickly Ian .
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Got a link pls Andy. When throwing a squirt does it not rile up the beggars and cause em to attack. Trying to get prepared for when I start clearing the overgrowth to repair the fence.
 
Bought in a local, ie France, DIY shed. I’d be surprised if you can’t find something similar.
When I blasted the ground nesting wasps I held the nozzlle just a couple of inches above the hole. I was not attacked. It is hornets that try and nest in the barn roof and I get those before the nest gets much bigger than a golf ball. Those get zapped from the ground and tend to instantly fall to the ground .
IMG_4915.png
 
wallace said:
My wife swatted a wasp in the house once and went to chuck it outside, unfortunately I was working at the threshold crouched down, as she threw the semi alive thing out of the door it went straight down my butt crack and had enough energy in it to sting me a couple of times. That made me jump a tadge.
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Definitely grounds for a divorce Wallace. :ROFLMAO:
 
wallace said:
My wife swatted a wasp in the house once and went to chuck it outside, unfortunately I was working at the threshold crouched down, as she threw the semi alive thing out of the door it went straight down my butt crack and had enough energy in it to sting me a couple of times. That made me jump a tadge.
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Apologies Wallace... I couldn't help but laugh out loud at reading this... 🙏🤣
 
Feel sorry for you Ian - and the discomfort caused.

I had a hatred for wasps as a kid... as well as Bees back then but now understand them better. As someone told me a few years back "If it wasn't for wasps we wouldn't have paper!"... They have a place in removing other little nasties interesting gardens.

I'd get wasps clearing up around the hawk weathers (perches/shelters) During the summer months when the hawks were going through the moult and not being flown. It became quite interesting watching them cut off tiny bits of the meat and fly off with it if they came across it before I did. I'd leave them alone - they'd leave me alone. If they came buzzing around I'd softly tell them to "buzz off" - and they would 😉

I obviously can't speak about the wasps that attacked you...
 
Steve Maskery said:
In the UK we think of bees being black and yellow, but the ones round here in France are just black, no yellow on them at all.
S
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There are black bees over here Steve we get them regularly in the garden, Mason bees & some of the different Mining bees are all black as unsurprisingly is the British Black Bee
 
Thanks everyone, (and sorry Wallace) I had a recount and it was actually 12 stings, no discomfort today.
Yes that’s very similar to the squirty stuff I used last night as the sun went down.
The nest was an inch round hole in the leaf mould and down into the pea grit? the stuff is very easily directed in a jet that filled up the entrance and all around, I was about 4 feet away but it would have worked from a lot further away. Only 2 stranded wasps this morning and they soon went the way of the others.
 
🤢... most likely a bird... or 2... sorry for the troubles that may cause getting rid of what may be up there... 😕
 
When I was about seven, nearly 70 years ago, I was in the field next to our house talking to my mother over the fence. Unbeknown to me I was standing on a wasps nest and they didn't like it. After my mother had retrieved me and washed all the wasps out of my hair, getting stung herself in the process, she got the doctor out who counted over 60 stings on by back alone. Fortunately, apart from the pain, I suffered no adverse effects.

I dont like wasps.
 
HappyHacker said:
When I was about seven, nearly 70 years ago, I was in the field next to our house talking to my mother over the fence. Unbeknown to me I was standing on a wasps nest and they didn't like it. After my mother had retrieved me and washed all the wasps out of my hair, getting stung herself in the process, she got the doctor out who counted over 60 stings on by back alone. Fortunately, apart from the pain, I suffered no adverse effects.

I dont like wasps.
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When I was about 10, I was walking in the woods near our house with a friend and climbed over a fallen tree. The tree had a wasps nest hidden in it and I inadvertently trod on it. The wasps chased my friend and me all the way home and we both got stung loads of times (I didn't count).

Ever since then I see one wasp and I think "yeah, what are you gonna do?!" so I'm largely indifferent to them now. I guess it could go either way when you experience something like that.
 
Feel for you, my daughter inadvertently stumbled on a nest, when she was 11 or so. We had to run, my wife was right next to her and so also got stung. Between them they had well over 50 stings it was awful and took a good few years for her to be comfortable with anything that flew!
 
Not wasps, but Asian Hornets, which are in a whole different league of nastiness. On one of our trips to Japan some years ago, SWIMBO was wearing black and white, horizontally striped T shirt (aka pirate shirt) which attracted an Asian Hornet wot started to close in on her. This was spotted by a local Japanese bloke who immediately hustled her off to the nearest building with a sliding entrance door. We later learned that these things give off a pheromone when exited which apparently attracts hoards of other hornets, which can, if you're unlucky, have fatal conesquences - Rob
 
The same 'Yellow-legged Asian Hornet' that are working their way into the UK and having such a devastating affect on out bees? 😕
 
Nasty things and rightfully causing fear. I usually steer clear whenever I see a wasp looking thing that looks a bit 'odd'. When I was about 12 or 13 my dad who is a big/scary bloke (and has some sort of ADHD or at least social isolation issues, but a very good dad and a very good DIYer/woodworker told me to remove a bumblebee from the kitchen.

Now, before I go further its important to know that I have a very rational fear of heights and take safety seriously. As do I have an irrational fear of bumblebees as the time (cute little things, which I now know). Anyway, add to that a rational - he was very very loud and towering - fear of my dad who cured of me many things but not heights.

So he asked me to remove the bumblebee. Maybe I was a bit older at 14, but I didn't wish to disappoint. As I was always the spare pair of hands and took my job seriously 😆. So in a mix of wanting to impress along with a fear of not wanting to disobey the general, I took the biggest piece of kitchen roll and wrapped it together to make a 'grabbing tool'. Grabbed the bee behind at least 3 or 5 layers of tissue, or so it seemed. But, the cute, massive beggar got me through the whole lot. Stung me... but I never cried nor complained.

Now, coming back to the fear of many things (heights, bees, wasps, mince meat) my dads loud instructions (not to be confused by shouts) never quite managed to cure them all. But they did cure me of my fear of mince meat and I think I cried the first time I tried it.

Coming back to the ladders and heights, I'm almost terrified and always contemplated why I never complained about getting up on the ladder whenever he said so whilst I was growing up (as a teenager now). It took me until my 30s to realise that I was never comfortable with ladders or heights - sh*t scared, more like.

But my fear of heights when growing up was always overruled by my fear of my dad. Terrified, terrified I was and only just gotten over it in yhe last couple of years at 48 (him now going on 74 and a gentle giant, though he sometimes forgets and let's out a shout or 2 with the younger kids... then apologises 😆).

Back on topic... Wasps, not bees. Please don't kill bees (or is it just honey bees we should not harm) folks, the gentle massive things.
 
Don't kill any of them be they bee, wasp or our Hornet - Except the Yellow-legged Asian Hornet which - if seen - sightings should be reported so the nest/nests can be found and correct treatments applied. It doesn't have a place in this country and causes great damage to our native insects (seemingly mainly bees but also wasps, butterflies etc.).

Wasps do have a place even if you dont want them in close proximity to you and yours.

It's not only bees - of which the UK has 250+ native ones, not just Honey bees and 'bumble' - that are pollinators of the flowers and crops... it's also many others...
 
In the late 70s I was in Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territory's working at the airport. The horseflies were everywhere and annoying to say the least. Buzzing around looking for a chance to land on you to bite out a chunk of flesh, even through your clothes. Every once in a while what looked like a slightly bigger horsefly would zoom in and tackle the horsefly, go to the ground with it and wrestle it for a few seconds and fly off. The head of the horsefly remained on the ground. The locals said it was a wasp and would take the fly to a little hole it had dug to lay an egg in. Later when the wasp hatched it fed on the horseflies. I liked those wasps a lot.

Pete
 
Accipiter said:
Don't kill any of them be they bee, wasp or our Hornet - Except the Yellow-legged Asian Hornet which - if seen - sightings should be reported so the nest/nests can be found and correct treatments applied. It doesn't have a place in this country and causes great damage to our native insects (seemingly mainly bees but also wasps, butterflies etc.).

Wasps do have a place even if you dont want them in close proximity to you and yours.

It's not only bees - of which the UK has 250+ native ones, not just Honey bees and 'bumble' - that are pollinators of the flowers and crops... it's also many others...
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You can have my share as well then Frank, I detest the little stripey bu**ers. 😉
 
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Lons said:
You can have my share s well then Frank, I detest the little stripey bu**ers. 😉
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I must admit that I don't see as many of any of them as I used to do in my area... At one time in the past I used to put up those artificial wasp nests so they'd not nest in our garden. I've not done that for the last 5 years...
 
Accipiter said:
I must admit that I don't see as many of any of them as I used to do in my area... At one time in the past I used to put up those artificial wasp nests so they'd not nest in our garden. I've not done that for the last 5 years...
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We have a couple of prolific Bramley apple trees and a couple of eaters as well as a damson and when they're ripe the wasps descend in their hundreds. They get drunk on the fermenting apple juice and are a tad aggressive. My main concern is that we have an almost 12 year old Labrador who isn't sensible enough to keep out of the way and multiple stings could be quite serious.
My neighbour keeps bees so I have to be careful what traps I put out.
 
Fully understand Bob... With the amount and type of fruit trees it must be a big worry 😟.

All I could offer - *if not already doing it?* - is to put up some of those wasp traps you can get for putting in some liquid attractive solution so they (at least some!) enter and drown in at as they can't find their way out. Depends which traps you use?

Another thing to try - again if not already done/doing - is put out those imitation nests before the beginning of their nesting season. Supposed to stop them nesting if there's a nest already there...?

Just a part of the cycle of their life... work to feed the queens then, when that's done, kicked out of the nests because they've done what they came into this world for.

Wishing you well and that you don't have as many this time round 🤞
 
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