There are several species of wasps and some are able to grow up to 30mm in length. Wasps are a social insect circulating around a queen, which is much larger than the workers, starting a new nest each year. Nests are created by chewing wood and other plant debris mixed with saliva.
Nests are typically found in earth banks, in buildings (roof spaces or cavities in walls) and in trees or bushes. They build new nests every year and in the colder winter months the workers and males die. Only young queens survive the winter and they begin building new nests in the spring.
The young fertilized queen will emerge from hibernation around mid-April and searches for a new site for her nest. The queen will then rear the first brood of worker wasps by herself and
upon hatching these workers will carry on the building of the nest. The queen is the only wasp able to lay eggs and she will remain in the nest laying more eggs for further broods. By late summer the typical wasp nest consists of 3 to 5 thousand individuals. In cooler weather, the workers become more tired and aggressive towards anyone interfering with them.
Wasps do have a useful role scavenging for the larvae of other insects, controlling garden pests and clearing carcasses early in the season. They even dispose of rotten timber if available. However, they may carry disease picked up during their visits to dustbins, bottle banks and carcasses and can contaminate food if allowed to settle on it.
Wasps cause a nuisance for various reasons. It is usually the late summer when the workers do not have to feed the larvae with high protein food, and they can indulge in sweet substances - fruit, jams, syrups etc. They enter kitchens in search of sweet food, and while not particularly hostile, they will sting if aggravated.
As the cooler weather comes, the wasps become more irritable, and this is not helped by them feeding on over-ripe fruit, giving them the appearance of being 'tipsy'. Again they are better left alone when in this condition.
A wasp sting is caused by the injection of poison into the victim, causing redness and swelling. In some case more serious effects occur and you should seek medical advice if this happens. Repeated stings can cause anaphylactic shock. Symptoms include respiratory distress, swelling of the face and vomiting with abdominal pain. Medical assistance should be sought immediately where anaphylactic shock is suspected. Wasps are most likely to sting when their life cycle is ending later in the year and so it is best to deal with nests as soon as you see them, rather than waiting until they increase in size. Old nests are not reused and do not need to be dealt with or removed.
Earlier in the year the only nuisance caused by wasps is minor damage done to wooden fences, for example, and wooden fabric of buildings when the wood is needed to build nests.
Although wasps are troublesome to us it would be unwise to destroy nests without good reason. Wasps are controllers of far more injurious pests of forestry, agriculture and gardens. If the presence of a nest is causing no direct problems, then it is best left well alone. Wasps' nests are abandoned at the end of the autumn.
You can dispose of individual wasps using domestic insecticides, although this will not control or eliminate the colony itself.
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