Jaspers!

[DarynWebb]

I've seen only one wasp this year and she was dead in my shed.

 

[oliver90owner]

Standard food web/habitat education.

Either the environment is not conducive for a suitable habitat (climate for instance) or the food chain is regulated by the amount of resources (food for instance) available.

Case with wasps could be the former or the latter, but likely a combination of both.

I would also think that the ratio of agricultural 'icides' applied to the growing plants is rather different this year, favouring fungicides rather than insecticides - which (thinking a little deeper) likely means that a lot of 'systemic seed dressing insecticides' which were automatically applied this year were not actually needed. Bet that is not Bayer's stance!

 

[bee ginnner]

Last year was dry and we mostly all had wasp problems, this year is obviously completely the opposite which seems logical to me as a very high proportion of rural wasps nest in the ground so they are bound to suffer in wet years, some must be totally flooded out and killed.
but as andy duff? said there is lest fruit and o90o is probably right about the fungicides etc however if there are less wasps predating this year there may be more bugs of some sorts than you would think.
personally i am a lot more hopefull of a good year than last.

 

[susbees]

Destroyed one in the bedroom ceiling. No others yet. Talking to local pest controllers....worst year ever is the feeling....bad for them is good for us.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[user 6228]

worrying the lack of wasps, while I dont like too many of them, none at all isnt right. Everything has its place in moderation

 

[TOBY-3652]

Biggest problem was the wasps came out of hibernation end of march, 2 hot weeks {or is that to} then cold and wet and the queen wasps that had started to build a nest and lay. Rely on the offspring to feed her most perished in the nests

 

[Mrs Shoot]

Went to have a quick look at the bees today as passing, and got stung by a wasp, there were at least 5 of them about near the bee hives.

 

[yeogi75]

5 wasps two hornets, now two dead hornets the wasps i hit several times and still flew away, and one dragon fly that taken one of my bees on the wing right in front of hive hes next

 

[Chris Luck]

I see lot's of mentions of Hornets in the UK on this forum.

Have they become common? They were incredibly rare when I was in the UK to the point that I had only ever seen two in my life there.

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

that I had only ever seen two in my life there.

That begs some qualification? Were you a beekeeper before you moved to France?

 

[busybee53]

Welcome to the forum Mrs Shoot.

 

[Chris Luck]

Perhaps a more qualified answer RAB is that I was raised in the countryside in the south of England where I had a close interest in wildlife that has continued until the present, so 40 plus years in the UK with my eye on the ball.

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

Ahh, Thanks. That's better than guessing.

I lived on a farm for my first twenty five years and although seeing more than you, wasp nests were very very common. Cymag was the preferred route to a days fishing with the bait from a wasp nest.

Since keeping bees, I have again noticed the occasional hornet. They are still not that common. The thirty five years between the two were virtually devoid of sightings (urbanised, working and not beekeeping were the main reasons, I suppose).

One would rarely come across a hornet unless looking for them or stumbling across a nest. They have likely declined, as have most of the insect life, due to increased insecticide use, along with other habitat changes.

RAB

 

[Mrs Shoot]

Thank you busybee53, learning loads from the forum.

 

[andybeehive]

New this year to all this beekeeping lark...

There were lots of wasp queens around West Wiltshire in the spring but I've hardly seen a wasp worker all year. Perhaps the change in the weather and a very wet May, June and July has caused them problems.

Still once I start picking the plums I'm sure they will be there...... Always on the side you cannot see!!

Not seen a hornet around here in a couple of years, not that I miss them!!

Cheers, Andy

 

[theeggman]

Last year we had a hive from a commercial beek on our farm (last of 5, don't ask) which had 3 supers robbed by wasps and the colony dead. Also lots of Hornets around the fruit trees.
This year nothing, but no fruit either.
We will wait and see what happens later in the year!.
Tim

 

[Chris Luck]

Last year we had a hive from a commercial beek on our farm (last of 5, don't ask) which had 3 supers robbed by wasps and the colony dead.

Sorry, I'm going to have to ask, how can wasps rob a colony that is strong enough to fill 3 supers? Surely only colonies that are dead, v.weak or on their last legs can succumb like that.

Chris

 

[Karol]

Sorry, I'm going to have to ask, how can wasps rob a colony that is strong enough to fill 3 supers? Surely only colonies that are dead, v.weak or on their last legs can succumb like that.

Chris

Generally speaking that is the case. However, a lot depends on wasp demographics, population pressures and environmental conditions and to some extent the competence of the resisting hive.

In terms of hive competence, I have seen first hand in Germany a large hive lose its queen to become 'rudderless'. The poor worker bees just 'sat' there whilst wasps attacked and the lack of a response from the bees provoked a feeding frenzy. The wasps didn't bother stinging the bees, they just snipped off their abdomens which they carted off to their nests only to then recruit more wasps. It was pitiful to see - tens of thousands of bees slowly dying walking around without abdomens.

Thankfully it is a fairly rare occurence for healthy colonies to succumb and the majority of hives that get picked off are already compromised for some other reason.

 

[theeggman]

The wasps gained access through the rotten corner of a super rather than the front door. Despite phone calls to the beek and no response eventually the colony succumbed. We hadn't started keeping bees at that stage.

 

[Chris Luck]

Really what I said then. In the German case where presumably they were hopelessly queen-less, (otherwise they wouldn't be rudderless) and just nature taking it's course.

...and in the other case they would defend a hole in the super if they were OK, even against Hornets. I sometimes deliberatively create a gap between supers for direct bee access and the bees have no trouble defending it.

Chris