By Aidan Smith

Wharfedale Naturalists Society

OVER the summer months we have been experimenting with a house share and the chance to view nature up close. I am not exactly sure when the share started, but at some point a queen social wasp awoke from her winter hibernation (it was a long one this year), fed, began construction of a nest and set about egg laying.

It was early summer when I first noticed the occasional wasp entering the garage through an air brick. With the holes being only a couple of meters from our house door I did wonder whether the nest was a little too close for comfort. I had a quick look for nest, but it was hidden away out of sight.

Towards the end of summer, we returned from a nature filled holiday in the Scottish Highlands and it was clear that the wasps had been busy. Watching them enter and exit the air brick was like watching footage of a busy road junctions sped up for effect. I looked in the garage and part of the nest could be seen bulging out like a good sized football squeezed into a tight space. I have not tried to count the wasps, but as they leave the nest at first light it is like watching an outdoor tap that has been turned on and left running.

Within the wasp nest is a more sinister house share. A lesser hornet hoverfly (pictured) has shown an interest in the wasp nest. It is a touch larger than the worker wasps and an excellent mimic. Its larvae will enter the nest, initially eat debris, and then feast on wasp larvae. Eventually, they will make their escape and leave the nest to pupate.

Our house share will soon be becoming to an end. Not because we have called in pest control (that strangely provide information online about how important wasps are to the planet while at the same time stoking our fears), but because colder autumnal weather is upon us and food sources for the wasps will diminish. The workers and our queen will die and the nest will be abandoned. The new queens and fertile males will leave the nest with each queen establishing a new nest next year.

Beyond having to open a window to let a wasp out on the odd occasion, we have managed to live side-by-side with the wasps this summer. Let us hope the new queens find a sheltered spot to hibernate this winter and a home just as accommodating next year.

wharfedale-nats.org.uk