When Is Wasp Season in Canterbury?
Where people gather, wasps follow the food, and the calendar shows when a busy premises should look for nests, tighten up on waste and book a treatment.
A busy place in the busiest wasp weeks
Canterbury, the cathedral city in east Kent, is a place with plenty of visitors, and where visitors gather there are cafés, shops, guest accommodation and outdoor seating. All of these overlap with the wasp season.
Building usually begins towards the end of April, with the weather setting the pace. The colony grows through the summer, and August is the peak, with a nest able to hold from 2,000 to 10,000 or more wasps. In late summer wasps become much keener on sweet food and drink, which is exactly what cafés and ice cream sellers serve. Then the numbers decline in autumn.
For a business owner, the wasp season is a trading issue. A few well-timed steps keep it from becoming one.
It is worth remembering that guests and customers rarely know anything about wasps, so they take their cue from staff. Calm, confident handling of a stray wasp reassures people far more than a flurry of swatting.
Spring: the opening checklist
The first warm weekends of the year are when seasonal trade picks up. Add a wasp check to the opening checklist for the new season.
Walk the premises and look at the places wasps favour: eaves and roof edges, chimneys, walls, outbuildings, bin stores, trees and planters near entrances, and the ground beside outdoor seating. Look for a wasp flying in and out of the same point.
If you find something, you are in the best position to deal with it. Early spring is the best time to deal with nests, because the nest is small and the work is quick. Wasp Exterminator Kent treats domestic and commercial properties, and can fit in evening and weekend appointments around opening hours.
Do not forget upper floors and roof spaces, which are often forgotten in older or multi-storey buildings. A nest above a shop front or in a roof gable can be watched from the street with binoculars on a warm afternoon.
Summer: managing the sweet things
As the colony grows, so does the attraction of the premises to wasps. Anything sweet, sticky or discarded outdoors draws them in.
- Clear tables quickly, especially cups, cans and plates with sugar or fruit.
- Use lidded bins, and empty them often.
- Keep bottle and can recycling away from customer areas and rinse items before storage.
- Cover pastries and cakes on outdoor counters.
- Keep sugar bowls and syrups off outdoor tables unless asked for.
None of this will remove a nest, but it will reduce the number of wasps that find their way to customers. If a nest is close to an entrance or seating area, it is time to book rather than put up with it.
Tell delivery staff about the plan too. They may leave crates of bottles, boxes of fruit or sacks of waste in the yard, and these can draw wasps in for hours before anyone notices.
The late-summer squeeze
Late summer can be the hardest period. The colony is still large, wasps are most interested in sweet food and drink, and trade is often at its peak. Customers who are happy to sit outside in July may start to complain in September.
Staff play an important part. Make sure they know to stay calm, not to swat or chase wasps at tables, and to report any nest they see. Tell them not to go looking for a nest, as wasps can swarm and sting if threatened.
At this time of year, speed matters. If you find a nest, ask for same-day service. The business is open seven days a week and the online form can be used for emergency service outside normal office hours.
Keep an eye on the weather forecast for warm, still days, since those are the days when wasps are most active. If a busy weekend is coming, prepare in advance rather than react on the day.
Guest accommodation and group visits
If you run self-catering or guest accommodation, check the grounds and outbuildings in spring and keep an eye on them through the season. A nest near a door, patio or window can be a problem for guests, who may not know what to do.
Leave a note in the guest information about keeping food covered outdoors and who to contact if wasps appear. For group visits and events, check the outdoor areas in advance and have a plan for moving people inside.
If a guest is stung, wash the area, remove the sting if visible and use a cold pack. Call 999 for swelling of the face, lips or throat, wheezing, dizziness or a widespread rash.
For cleaners and other staff who come in outside normal hours, a brief note on what to look for and who to call is a sensible precaution.
Booking for a business
Wasp Exterminator Kent charges a fixed £120 per nest, with one visit guaranteed, and £60 for each additional nest on the same property. Calling out costs nothing extra, and the time of day does not move the price. Technicians are fully insured and qualified.
Call 01622 410 019 or use the booking form on the contact page. Say if the premises are open to the public, where the nest is in relation to customers, and whether anyone is allergic. If you lease your premises, check the lease on who arranges pest treatments, since that depends on its terms. Ask the technician whether the empty nest can be taken down.
When you describe the nest, mention how it relates to the way customers move through the building: the front door, the outdoor tables, the toilets, the delivery entrance. That tells the technician what matters most and lets them plan the visit around the layout.
Wasps on your property in Canterbury?
Fixed price £120 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.