Other Half knows I’m much more comfortable with insects than he is, so he usually calls me if something wanders in. He thinks they all belong outside, and this time he was right - it was a wasp.
Mr Wasp was sitting on the kitchen counter, right by the kettle, looking rather forlorn, and with the weather we’ve been having this week, I couldn’t blame him. It was probably the only source of warmth he could find.
Now the thing about wasps is this: they are persistent little buggers. If you do the glass-and-postcard thing and transport them outside, they’re just as likely to fly straight back in again, because they smelled something nice in here the first time and they’re not about to give up because of a temporary setback. And each time you take them out, they get more pissed off about it, and a little harder - and more dangerous - to catch.
So I thought I’d try a different approach.
The little guy was already walking in circles around the inside of a glass and wondering what the hell had happened to his world, because OH had dropped one over him before he called me, and very brave it was too, considering that the last time he was stung he went rather dizzy and faint and worried everyone considerably. Anyway. I cut a nectarine in half and removed the stone, and wiped some of the ripe flesh off the stone onto the postcard (waste not, want not!) and then I slid the postcard under the wasp’s new home, carefully lifting the rim over the smear of fruit and I took the whole thing outside.
I left him under the glass, already greedily feeding on the pulp, and rushed in to get my camera, but I needn’t have worried. He stayed right where he was even after I took the glass away. He stayed right where he was as I took a few macro shots. He stayed right where he was even when I put the flash into ‘forced on’ mode and took some more shots which must have half-blinded him, and last I saw of him he was still there, sucking that stuff up as if there was no tomorrow. He’s probably there even now, sleeping it off in a happy, drunken haze.
Now, I know most of you will think I’m absolutely crazy for saving the life of a wasp and feeding him nectarine, let alone taking pictures of him, but hey - he didn’t fly straight back in, did he?
Of course, if it had been early spring and it had been a queen wasp in my house, she would have been flatter than … um … a very flat thing in … ah … no time flat, because I really don’t want a wasp’s nest hidden somewhere inside.
I’m not completely insane.
For those who are interested in such things, this is a German Wasp - nearly as common as Vespula vulgaris, the Common Wasp, but I think a little prettier.
It’s a shame they sting, because they are quite pretty really.
I am like you. I don’t see the point of killing them if they are not threatening you with their nasty sting ;O)
As kids we went camping once and was overrun with wasps or bees (I actually got stung) We were told to put a jam jar (or several) a reasonable distance away, topped up with water. The silly wasps would walk down eating the jam, and go straight into the water. It’s a very good way to stop them coming in your home
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Hi Babs! Yes, my Nan used to do that - a spoonful of jam, a splash of hot water, a bit of paper over the top with a hole poked in it, and they’d climb in and drown themselves. You can buy fancy wasp traps now, I think - but in fact wasps are classified as useful insects because the eat a lot of pests.
I’m very tolerant of bees, but I have a strong aversion to wasps.
Go figure.
Gosh, I’m tired. I also meant to tell you that your photograph is amazing, and I’m very impressed by the nectarine story. I’ll have to remember that as a way to get rid of wasps in the house.
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Who are you kidding - you obviously chopped it in half !!
It is an ex wasp.
Great photo….I must get a macro lens sometime as it’s a whole new world ‘down there’. I had a wasp nest in my loft last summer but thankfully they didn’t return to it this year. I need to get rid of it in case they have a 2 year cycle thing going on !!
And I’m also impressed that you knew it was German. Did it have a little towel ?
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Gah! wasp!!!! runs in other direction and slams door firmly.
They sure have vibrant colors!!
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I love that about you. You’re such a gentle soul….
Peace - D
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Wasps are so intricate and pretty…sucks they sting.
BUT - awesome photo!!!
You know it’s a wonderful pic if I say it from the picture quality point of view. But these insects really give me nightmares. Ugghh!!
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Wasps don’t bother me, but then again, I’ve never been stung by one. Plus, being a smoker, they generally avoid flying around my head :). However, one of my best friends is a total freak about wasps, and it’s a constant source of hilarity. She’s goes out on smoke breaks with me (We call her our second hand smoker) and if a wasp comes close, she does this utterly comical, run around in a circle, flap her elbows like she’s trying to fly, squealy girl thing, that makes it impossible to smoke because I’m laughing to hard to try to inhale. I’m really bad, because I’ll purposely pick smoking corners that have a wasp nest available just so I can watch her do it.
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Well, I suspect you know what I am going to say - good work, I would have done the same thing! Great photo too.
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You brave person!! Come and live here! I cannot bear to look at the creatures…. I must have been about 15 and at a youth club dance when I got awful pains across my abdomen - it transpired after a swift undressing in the loo, that a wasp had gone down the front of my dress and stung everywhere it touched.I was so ill for days - I cannot bring myself to save them.
kates last blog post..Preserving the Past
Ruth - Thank you! It’s the camera, it’s so neat! By the way, I feed ants, too. If I get a trail of ordinary black ants in the house, I find where they’re coming in and leave them a small container of icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar) made into a paste, outside the house just by their ‘entrance’. It takes them a little while, but they’ll eat that and go home. They only come in to look for something sweet.
Not sure I’d do it with Fire ants .. not sure it works with those things!
Silverback - I know! OH and I were both gazing at it in wonder thinking ‘how on earth does it stay attached to its hind end?? No wonder we’ve stolen the phrase ‘wasp-waisted’!
They die off in the winter, only the queen survives. I don’t know if they always choose a new location, but maybe!
‘Did it have a little towel?’ LOL! No, the stripey pattern is different. But it should have had a little towel after stamping around in that stuff.
Jeni - ROFL!! Still coming up to stay?
Eric - Hi Eric! Welcome aboard! Yes, they do, don’t they? I knew he’d make a great picture!
River Poet - It’s a struggle sometimes, but thank you. I’m glad I come across that way. My temper is my downfall… but I’m never not gentle with animals and helpless creatures and if I do have to kill something I try to make it quick.
Angi - Thank you - I’m just so impressed with this little camera! It makes it easy. You’re right, sucks they sting - but if they didn’t, they might not be so beautifully coloured.
Scratch - Thanks for the compliment! I was thinking while I was writing it, there really isn’t any way to warn you about big ‘bug’ pictures, but you know me by now. And I did include the word ‘wasp’ in the title!
JT - I’ve seen that dance! I’ve worked with people like that too! Useless to tell them they’re making matters worse, it’s a phobia. But still kind of funny to see!
DBM - Yeah, I can see you doing exactly the same! Thanks for the compliment - coming from you, I’m honoured!
Kate - As I keep telling OH, it’s not bravery. To be brave you first have to be afraid, and I’m just not. I’m wary of wasps and bees and anything that might sting me, but not fearful. Your experience sounds horrible - enough to make anyone scared to death of wasps!!
Oh yes - it was awful and the worst part was trying to teach the children not to be afraid!
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Ha ha! Thanks for the consideration Jay.:) Btw I have done ‘my movie’ meme.:) Have a look!
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Jay from looking at the picture, I thought that was its guts splattered….was about to bring up my breakfast, but then I read what is was. whew.
i try not to kill bugs myself, but if come in the house, well then…”your butt is mine”.
that was nice of you, to save a life.
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Jay:
This is a great story. As long as I’ve lived, ad as many wasps as I have seen - in my house - I never heard of this before.
We live fairly close to a river, and every year since since I bought this place we’ve been visited by giant wasps. They make huge nests on the house, and in the garage. It’s a pain to get rid of them. And, in all that time, it never occurred to me to take one single picture of the mean little devils.
Fabulous image.
Happy trails.
Kate - I take my hat off to you. Other Half has also had to do that with spiders, and I know it’s not easy.
Scratch - Oooh - I’m off to see what you made of that one!
Valerie - LOL! No, no splattered guts. Would I do that to you?
Swubird - It’s worth a try with one or two wasps, not sure it would work with a whole nest of them! Thanks for the compliment! I think my camera deserves it as much as I do!
You have a common “blog name”. I stopped back in to grab your URL to add to my blogroll and make sure which Jay you were
Thanks for dropping by!!
Eric
Eric “Speedcat Hollydale”s last blog post..The Donald Trumps McMahon Edwardo
Be it German Wasp, English Wasp, or American Wasp, they all got the same reaction from me - scream my heart out whenever I see one, and RUN…
The Real Mother Hens last blog post..Too Much Fun, But Too Little Time…
Eric - Yes, I do, don’t I? I keep running into another Jay in other blogs’ comments. And people often mistake me for a guy. I suppose it’s not a common name for a woman, although I do know another - she spells her name ‘Jey’ though.
Thanks for adding me!
Real Mother Hen - LOL! Yeah, I know. It’s a very common reaction, too! I think they’re ‘yellowjackets’ in the US, aren’t they?
No, there are wasps, and there are yellowjackets, and there are dirt daubers, and there are hornets. Four different things, at least in the U.S.
rhymeswithplagues last blog post..By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea?
Uhm … I do not like bugs of any ilk but that was sweet of you to feed him, Jay!
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Wow, Jay, that photo is incredible… (and you know I love those insect closeups!) He is beautful!
You are just like me; I always try to transport the lil buggars back outside where they belong.
Good for you!
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Jenny - Well, you can’t please all the people all the time, huh? I console myself with the thought that if Johnny ever dropped in on my blog he’d love it! Tee hee.
Maureen - Thank you!
I’m still stunned at the quality of macro shots this tiny camera produces, and hand-held, too! I’m so glad I bought it!
You must have been a great student in biology class.
“Jay! Stop feeding the frog!”
Joe - you’re not far wrong. I led a revolt in my college class when the lecturer brought in some mice which he was preparing to euthanise for us to dissect. He was stunned that we thought this was morally objectionable, but the mice lived to fight another day.