Wasps

The following Facebook post was inspired by a posting about being nice to wasps at the end of the summer and leaving sugar water out for them so they can die happy.

9 August 2019 at 09:01 ·

My Granma used to put an unwashed jam jar with an inch or so of water in the bottom on the outside kitchen window sill.  A circle of greaseproof paper held by a rubber band as a lid, with a wasp sized hole in.  Wasps fly in, eat sugary stuff, drown, suffering over.  You can do the same sort of thing with a Coke, Orangina, or other sugary soft drink bottle (they have no interest in diet drinks).  She also used to say "If you kill a wasp six more come to its funeral"
Fester's tip if you have a wasp in the house, turn off all the lights and open the window. The wasp will go towards the sunlight.
If you happen to have a feather duster you could use that to gently waft the wasp towards the window.  If you’re lucky (and persistent) you can get the wasp to grab hold of the duster and then shake it out of the window.  This also works with bees.  The good thing about the feather duster method is you're a good three foot away from the wasp (six if it's an extendable one). 

The velux in our kitchen roof is an excellent insect trap and we've become quite adept and escorting them out of the building.*

Miss Doozer I'd possibly have more sympathy if one hadn't landed on my leggings as I walked past its nest on my way to the bus stop, then proceeded to repeatedly sting me through the material. I smacked it with a folder, cursing it to high heaven, then realized there was a group of school kids walking past who can now add "vicious stripy f*&king b&stard f#!Ker" to their vocabulary.

Bentonbag The only time I was stung by a wasp was through leggings, must be something about the material that attracts and/or traps them. Vinegar is supposed to help calm wasp stings.

Miss Doozer More research is needed. Just not on me.

Dr E We use scrumpy in plastic bottles as wasp traps, they love it. We tried using Woodpecker cider and the wasps ignored it.

 

*We try and get Thunderthighs to do this, he’s the only one who can manage to reach without having to stand on a chair.