These are common throughout Europe and the UK. The Queen becomes active in mid April and by late summer a colony may reach 3,000 to 30,000 wasps. The Queen overwinters in buildings and hollows in trees.

Nests are found in holes in the ground, in tree holes and in all sorts of buildings. They will get in through bricks, holes where bricks or mortar are missing and through gaps in tiles or slates. A successful nest site means wasps will go back to the same area again. We have seen evidence of a dozen or so wasp nests in one loft. They build a new nest each year, often next to the old one. Wasps get dangerous when they get drunk feeding on rotting fruit which produces alcohol.

The last wasps to be produced from the nest are the queen wasps for next year. Once these are out of the nest, the worker wasps are redundant. This is often when they start to be a nuisance around picnic areas and barbecues as they have nothing to do other than to get a sweet feed.

If you have a bad reaction to wasp stings, it is not a good idea to try to deal with them yourself. With the right equipment and better appreciation of the way wasps live, we make destroying them seem easy.