When Is Wasp Season in Betteshanger?
Wasps leave a trail of evidence, and a few minutes of patient watching on a warm afternoon will usually tell you where the nest is.
Why watching works
A wasp nest is often hidden in a wall cavity, a hedge, a roof space or a hole in the ground. You cannot see it, but you can see the traffic. Wasps go out to find food and building material, and they come back to the same entrance each time. The path between the two is a line you can follow with your eyes.
Nests are started from late April, depending on the weather, and the amount of traffic increases through the summer. By August, with 2,000 to 10,000 or more wasps in the nest, the flight path is busy and easy to see. In Betteshanger, as elsewhere, a patient observer can find a nest without going near it.
This article explains how to do that safely at each stage of the season.
All it needs is a warm afternoon, a comfortable position and some patience.
Spring: look for the purposeful flier
In late April and May, the traffic is light. The skill is to tell a wandering wasp from one that is on a mission.
A wasp looking for food or exploring flies in loops, hovers and lands on things. A wasp heading to a nest flies in a direct line, often at a steady height, and disappears into a gap or a hole. If you see a wasp do the same thing twice, watch more closely.
Stand still, at least five metres away, and keep your hands down. Let your eyes follow the wasp as far as you can. Note where it vanishes. Early spring is the best time to deal with nests, so a flight path found in May is an excellent result.
Late afternoon, when the sun is lower, can be a good time too, because the light picks out the wasps' wings and makes the line easier to follow.
Summer: choosing your viewpoint
As traffic grows in June and July, the flight path becomes clearer. Choose a time when the sun is out and the air is warm, as that is when wasps are most active, usually in the middle of the day.
- Stand with the sun behind you, so you can see wasps against the light.
- Watch from a spot with a good view of the likely area.
- Do not stand in the flight path itself.
- Move slowly and keep children and pets away.
- Try watching for ten minutes, then repeat from another angle.
If you can see two lines of wasps going in different directions, there may be two entrances or two nests. Note them both. Do not follow the wasps into bushes, behind sheds or into long grass.
If the wasp vanishes behind an obstacle such as a shed or fence, mark the point where it disappeared and approach no closer. The entrance may be quite a distance beyond.
August: when it is obvious
At the peak, the traffic is heavy, and the nest is easy to find if it is visible at all. You may see wasps coming and going in a stream, hovering at an entrance, or landing on a wall in numbers.
However, this is not the time to get close. A nest of this size is strongly defended. Wasps can swarm and sting if they feel threatened, and the closer you go, the greater the risk.
Photograph the flight path and the entrance from a safe distance. Zoom in rather than move closer. Share the picture, or a description, when you call. The technician will know where to go when they arrive.
It can help to draw a quick sketch of the garden, marking the house, boundaries and the line you saw. It turns a vague description into a clear one.
Evening can be informative too. As the day cools, wasps return to the nest and the traffic towards it increases for a time, which gives you a second chance to confirm the direction you worked out in the afternoon.
Sorting nest wasps from visitors
Not every wasp you see belongs to a nest on your property. Wasps travel some distance for food, and the ones at your table could come from elsewhere. A few checks help.
- If wasps fly away from your table in a consistent direction, trace it.
- If they all arrive from the same direction, the nest is probably that way.
- If they come and go from your own house, wall or garden, the nest is probably yours.
- If you see no line at all, they may be a scattering of visitors.
In the later weeks of summer, wasps are very interested in sweet food and drink, so many flights are food trips rather than nest trips. Patience helps you tell the difference.
If wasps appear at a particular window every day, look in the opposite direction from the window as well as towards it. Wasps often come in along the wall from a gap some way off.
Passing on what you have learned
When you have a good idea where the nest is, get in touch with the details. Wasp Exterminator Kent prices each nest at a fixed £120 with one visit guaranteed, and an additional nest on the same property at £60 each. There is no call-out charge, and the price does not depend on where the nest is or the time of day.
The team is open seven days a week, offers same-day service and has evening and weekend appointments. Fully insured and qualified technicians treat homes and commercial premises. Call 01622 410 019 or use the booking form on the contact page, and mention any allergy in the household.
If you are not sure whether what you have is a nest, say so, and describe the flights you saw.
Wasps on your property in Betteshanger?
Fixed price £120 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.