Brock food

[al21]

This morning I set off to where I keep my bees with the intention of destroying a colony of wasps who'd made their home in my bait hive. While I dislike killing wasps because they have their place and as carnivorous insect they eat a lot of flies, but as they have started to take a real interest in my hive they had to go.

I guess that not that many folks get to see inside a wasp nest and thought a few pics might go down well.

The nest inside the bait hive.

Having removed the majority of the nest turning it upside down revealed this:

The structure of the nest is obvious and quite impressive. The very white blobs being sealed brood turning into adult wasps, the grubs also visible, with a few eggs to be seen in the new section of nes in the top right of the image. The next image shows them more clearly.

While I was taking these images I was wondering whether to crush the remains of the nest to make sure it was completely destroyed, ideally I'd use the grubs as bait for fishing, but I knew I wouldn't have time this weekend. While I was pondering this I became aware of snuffling and blundering noises behind me and you can imagine my surprise to see this fella.

Only a youngster, I thought to myself, your going to get a clip round the ear when you get home to your mum ya dirty stop out.

The local badgers have been quite good at clearing out any wasp nests underground, but I'd rather they didn't get a taste for breaking into hives to get at brood.

All in all a very pleasant surprise. I left the remains of the wasp nest out in the open so Brock can come back and have crunchy wasp for tea.

Al

 

[JonathanD]

What a surprise. Thanks for sharing.

 

[addo]

Cheers, great pictures.

 

[British Red]

Very, very cool

 

[al21]

Thanks folks.

Just to follow up on the fate of the wasp nest. Here's what was left of the nest when I visited last night. You can see the two top bars and the remains of the bee's comb. All sign of the wasp nest has gone though. Well done Brock, hope you enjoyed it!

On a sadder note, while walking yesterday, I came across this hole in a bank. At first I thought Brock had found another wasp nest, but as you can see this was a Bumble Bee nest.

Definitely a shame, but hardly and excuse to start persecuting Badgers.

Al

 

[Mojoracinguk]

Never knew Badgers ate that!
also until last year i had not thought where Bumble bee's live...until i was moving some fallen limbs at the base of a BIG old oak...and these bee's started appearing from a hole in the ground.
Wasps love to dwell in the ground too! (found a few nests)

 

[listenclear]

Great thread, thanks for sharing

 

[Whittler Kev]

Daughter had a wasps nest in her attic. Local council sent a man round to get rid of it who charged her £70
Never knew wasps eat flies or seen in a nest. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Toddy]

Al, the photos are excellent Thank you for sharing
That's a much better way of disposing of the wasps byke than using poison.
I quite enjoy watching the bees and figuring out where they're nesting, I never gave a thought to the badgers enjoying their nests though.

cheers,
M

 

[naefearjustbeer]

Nice picture and although nature is harsh it is the natural way of things. When my dad had a wasps nest in his shed I am afraid we didnt have the luxury of allowing a nice badger to finish the wasps off and i had to dispatch the nest myself. It was a tough job and the wasps gave a good fight.

When my wife was in college (before we married) wasps kept appearing out of the strip light in her bedroom in the student halls. When the council man came to get rid of the nest he literally crapped his pants as the nest was 3 times the size of anything he had seen before and the only route in and out of the loft space was where the wires came through the ceiling into my wifes room!! She was evacuated to allow removal of the nest.

 

[al21]

When my wife was in college (before we married) wasps kept appearing out of the strip light in her bedroom in the student halls. When the council man came to get rid of the nest he literally crapped his pants as the nest was 3 times the size of anything he had seen before and the only route in and out of the loft space was where the wires came through the ceiling into my wifes room!! She was evacuated to allow removal of the nest.

Did you hear about this one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-10871240

Scary stuff!

Al

 

[Bushwhacker]

Excellent pictures, cheers.