Beverley
Beekeepers' Association
The
local Beekeeping Association for East
Yorkshire
Wasps
The common wasp is usually yellow and black stripped and
grows up to about 20mm.
In the garden they are omnivorous, feeding on fruit, nectar
and carrion. Common wasps will
also invade honey bee colonies to steal honey and can
completely kill out colonies of honey
bees.
Common wasps are social insects, living in nests of up to
10,000 workers. Like the
bumblebees the queen wasp will hibernate through the
winter, in the spring she will search
for a nesting site. She will start to build the nest in
which she will begin to lay eggs. The nest
will be made in a cavity, hedge or other suitable niche, of
chewed wood which will have the
appearance of papier mache. The eggs will hatch into
sterile females called workers. These
workers then take over the nest building and feeding the
larvae. Later in the season eggs will
be laid that will become male wasps for mating and those
which will become the next
season's queens.
Wasps are able to sting repeatedly. The venom contains a
pheromone which acts as an
alarm causing other wasps to act defensively and sting.
Wasps will aggressively defend their
nest.
In the autumn the new queen wasps which are much bigger
than the workers and easily
identified will leave the nest to seek a winter hibernation
site.
A useful website with information and images
www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/427.shtlm