I have been soundly and roundly cursing the sudden explosion of wasps that are infesting my garden and house, not to mention the large and scary uber-version, hornets, that for the last week have appeared at night when the outside security light goes on. Like so many other ignorant people, I have often wondered just what role wasps do. According to Philip Hoare, a whole lot.
Read Philip’s lovely article for the full details but in short: they are: pollinators on whom our global economy relies ; all seven specicies are beautiful; they are highly organised and outstanding engineers; and in the UK they collectively scoff 14 million kg of insects like caterpillars and greenflies that otherwise would destroy our food.
And they don’t sting unless you attack them, which we tend to do in panic. I try not to kill them. I have whisking them out of the kitchen window with a light teatowel down to a T and I keep wasp-catching equipment on the landing (a glass and postcard that in the evening magically transform into a humane moth and daddylonglegs trapping kit) and I put my captives back outside.
As Mr Hoare suggests, they are a lot more useful and much less destructive than us. Gotta go, I can hear the buzz of yet another small stripey thing trapped behind the blinds…
The Persistent Woman 