Juanita Browne: I found a wasp nest — does it need to be destroyed immediately?

It might actually not be so bad having some wasps as temporary neighbours

Left: Iulia, 10, and seven-year-old Eric Dumitrescu, along with mum Anda, a consultant paediatrician at CUH and beekeeper, at the launch of the apiary project at the hospital, funded by CUH Charity. The beehives have been installed to help ease the fears of children who have suffered life-threatening reactions to bee and wasp stings. Picture: Brian Lougheed. Right: Wasp nest. Picture: Juanita Browne

The other day I noticed a few wasps flying in and out of a dog kennel we have in our back garden. Inside, I discovered a medium-sized nest hanging from the ceiling. It’s important to explain that our dogs are far too spoiled to ever use this kennel, preferring instead to nap on an armchair or under my desk during the day and sleep in our utility room at night.

But when I told my husband and boys about the new residents, they wanted me to destroy the nest immediately, because ‘wasps are dangerous’. My 13-year-old has a very understandable dislike of wasps, having been stung 16 times in about 5 seconds when he accidentally stepped on a nest hidden in long grass a few years ago. As part of his pitch, he asked 'but what are wasps for?’

Common wasps share a large papier-maché nest with thousands of their sisters. They collect small pieces of dead wood, chew them up and create intricate galleries of cells and walls with their adhesive saliva. It’s quite amazing really! Picture: Juanita Browne

I can’t tell you the number of times over the years that I’ve been asked ‘But what are wasps for?’ or ‘what good are wasps?’ — implying that all creatures must be beneficial in some way to the ecosystem, to the planet, or to humans. But the existence of a 'nasty' species like a wasp, with its painful sting, is impossible to understand in these terms.

So, what ‘good’ are wasps? Let’s consider three points:

1. Wasps are predators or parasites, and often predate pest species, such as aphids, caterpillars and flies, so they actually are of value to growers and gardeners.

2. Adult wasps feed on the nectar of flowers, so this means they’re also pollinators, helping to pollinate our flowering plants, fruit and vegetables — case #2 for wasps being actually valuable to humans.

3. My third point is really another question: What are humans for? How do humans contribute in a positive way to ecosystems or to the planet? This is, of course, an existential question you might like to ponder at your leisure and is beyond the scope of this article.

Wasp nest with 'guard' at entrance

My argument to my son was that the kennel wasps aren’t really causing us any problems right now, and maybe, just maybe, we can live alongside them. Thankfully the kennel is far enough away from our house so that the wasps won’t accidentally end up flying in through an open window or door. Even more importantly, the nest will be empty in a few weeks anyway. All wasp nests die off at the end of the summer and then we can remove it safely, having allowed them do their important pest control and pollination work, and without having to deal with an angry swarm.

Wasps, like bees, will only sting if they feel threatened or if their nest is under attack. I would hope my crawling into a dog kennel and lying upside down to take these photographs went some way towards showing my family how calm these insects can be if undisturbed.

Having said that, of course you will have to destroy a nest if it is in your eaves or somewhere you regularly use, or where your children might play. But in this particular circumstance, I’m happy to leave them to go about their business until the natural end of life of the nest. If you do need to get rid of a wasp nest, please do thorough research or call in an expert if it’s a very large nest. It’s always best to tackle spraying a nest at night, when the wasps will be asleep inside, but even then, you must be really careful and make sure you have a clear exit route if you need to make a run for it!

Allergies are of course a serious issue, but even if you don’t have an allergy, be aware that stings in the mouth or neck can still be dangerous if they cause swelling that obstructs your airway.

I guess my advice on wasp nests is the same as for any situation when wildlife comes into conflict with humans: every situation should be assessed individually. Wasps aren’t inherently ‘bad’, and not every nest must be destroyed. Likewise, if it’s a mammal predator or a bird of prey or another species we class as ‘vermin’, the best approach is always to ask if you need to do anything or if you can live alongside wildlife. We should try not to classify every species as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and I think as a rule of thumb we should first try tolerance and mitigation. If a pine marten or fox is raiding your chicken coop, perhaps you need to reinforce your fencing. If you discover a wasp nest towards the end of summer, maybe you can work around it for just a few weeks.

Like bumblebees, only the mated queens survive over winter. All the workers, males, and the old queen will naturally die off at the end of the summer, while the new queens leave to find safe hibernation spots in which to spend the winter. If we destroy the nest now before the young ‘princesses’ have a chance to finish growing and leave the nest and mate, we’re not just destroying this nest, but we’re also wiping out the future colonies these new queens would produce next year.

Soon the new queens will have left the nest to find hibernation sites, and the rest of the inhabitants will be dead. So I know if we can wait it out, our nest will be empty very soon and won’t cause any problems — to our dogs or little humans.