Is this the nest of a new French invader recently reported in the national press?   Or just some ordinary English variety?  This wasps’ nest, photographed in my neighbour’s garden on the 17th July, has yet to be identified.

Hanging in an Arbitus (Strawberry) Tree four foot from the ground, this beautiful nest is approximately a foot high and 10 inches at its widest.  Its colour is greyish white and has been built around a branch of the tree, the stems of which can be seen at the top of the nest with dead leaves poking out from within. 

The wasps can be seen entering through a large hole in the bottom of the nest, and although fairly smooth around the base there appear to be many small holes around the top.  The wasps have yellow and black stripes.  One appeared that was rather large, at least an inch, but the worker wasps seemed the usual size of half to three quarters of an inch long.

Sadly, the nest had to be destroyed because of its proximity to the house.  It was then taken to Brancaster Primary School for the children to see.

Biological Information
Nests are started by a single fertilised Queen who mated the previous year and has overwintered in the shelter of holes in natural or man made structures.  When the warmth of Spring arrives she builds a small cluster of cells (or comb) by collecting dry wood from logs and/or fences which she mixes with saliva to form the paper like structure.  Having completed her cluster, she lays her eggs and then protects and feeds the lava until they are grown.  These new wasps will then take over building more and more clusters and coating the nest with a paper covering.  At the same time they will have the task of foraging for food and feeding the new lava.  The Queen does not leave the nest again, her function now is to lay eggs.  The lava are fed with masticated flies and caterpillars, other fresh meat and sugars.

Late in the year the workers will build larger clusters for new queens and their mates.  These lava are given extra food.   The resultant offspring will be the founders of next year’s colonies of wasps and will mate before overwintering.  The rest of the colony of wasps will die when winter comes.

Most wasps, it appears, are not aggressive unless threatened.  When under threat, to defend themselves, they will send out an army of wasps to attack with their stings.   These are female wasps as males cannot sting, they can only mate.  Wasps are very much part of the food chain as they are eaten by other creatures while themselves eating the lava of insects from the garden and farmers fields.   They are useful in this respect and they are pollinators of plants.

Click picture below for enlargement

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