Wasps!

It's getting to late summer now and we'll soon be at the time of year where wasps can really make their presence known at your picnic. Until now it seems like there aren't many around and now they seem out to pester you as you sit eating an ice-cream.

Of course, they have been around, it's just that they seem more common. Perhaps its best to have a look and see why this is the case and understand the wasp a little better too.

It is generally only two species of the social wasps (Vespinae) that cause us grief: the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and the German wasp (Vespula germanica). These can be aggressive and may sting you should you attempt to shoo them away from your sarnie. The other social wasp species generally will only sting if disturbing their nests. 

The Common wasp can be identified by a black anchor-shaped face marking where as the German wasp has three small black dots.

In early spring the queen wasps emerges and builds a small nest and lay eggs. From this the first of the workers emerge. All workers are sterile females, in fact the sting is a modified ovipositor (used for laying eggs) which is why only females can sting and male drones are stingless.

Wasps actually provide important pest control to gardeners as well as acting as pollinators. As adults they will catch insect prey that includes caterpillars and aphids with which to feed their carnivorous larvae. The adults themselves have a sweet-tooth feeding on pollen, nectar, and a sweet excretion provided by their larvae.

During this time you may see wasps at your fences or shed walls as they collect thin strips of wood to build their nests with.

Its only in the latter stages of the wasp's life cycle that they become a nuisance. Towards the end of the year the queen stops laying eggs that produce sterile workers and instead lays the few that will become new queens and drones that will mate and then the new queens will begin the cycle anew the following year. Less larvae to be fed in the nest means less food for the workers as there's little larvae around to produce the sugary secretion. Instead they will seek out other sources of sugar and starch such as apples or perhaps your ice lolly.