The following information on the subject of “pest control wasps” should not necessarily be taken as absolute fact but more as general information I have collected over the years.

	There are two types of wasp that are commonly found in the United Kingdom; they are the common wasp and the German wasp. Both species are almost identical to look at.
	All worker wasps die out during the winter; the only wasps that survive are the queen wasps. Queen wasps hibernate during the winter inside the old nest or construct a small “golf ball” sized hibernation cell.
	During April and until early June, the queen wasp will leave the old nest or hibernation cell and begin the construction of a brand new nest in a new location. The old nest or hibernation cells are never used again.
	Nests are mostly made out of a mixture of chewed wood and wasp saliva. Queen wasps will often start to build their nests in roof voids, wall cavities or in outbuildings.
	By the time September arrives the nest can be as large as a small armchair with up to 10,000 wasps using it.
	During June and July you are unlikely to get wasp stings, as wasps are too busy chasing insects and bringing up the larval wasps. However as autumn arrives these activities stop and the wasps start to feed on fermenting, over ripe fruit. These “drunken wasps” are now at their most dangerous and can become very aggressive, with a wasp sting more likely to happen.
	The question we are most asked is “How can I tell if I have a wasp nest?” and “How do I destroy a wasp nest?” I hope the following information will be useful: The first thing to do is to look in your attic or look up into the top of your garage, shed or other outbuildings. During June and July the nest will only be the size of a tennis ball or football. It will be straw in colour and have “swirl shapes” all over it. From August to October it may become much bigger and a darker straw colour will lots of swirl patterns all over it. If you can't see the nest then take a very slow walk around you property looking for wasps going in and out of a single entrance hole every 2-4 seconds. This will indicate a nest 4-6 inches behind this hole.
	If you do discover a wasp nest or a wasp nest entrance hole, we recommend that the best way to kill the wasps nest is with our wasp nest destroyer kit.
	If you cannot find the nest or entrance hole but are still plagued with wasps, then the best way to get rid of them will be to buy one of our wasp trap packs or electronic flying insect and wasp killers. These will kill wasps, significantly reducing numbers.

Finally, remember if you’ve got any wasp control questions click here and we will answer you within 2 hours (Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm) If you send your question after 5pm we will get back to you first thing the next day. Test us! If we fail we’ll send you a large bar of chocolate.

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