WASPS!!

Using the words of the Queen song...'Wasps!-hey!, 

                                                                            What are they good for?

                                                                            Absolutely nothing,

                                                                            Say it again'

It gets to this time of the year and the wasps arrive, and each year I ask why?!?!?

They are annoying, potentially really painful, completely persistent in their quest to follow me round the garden, and I really dislike them a lot.  Each year I ask-what is their point, and why really are they here? 

There is a brilliant sketch by Michael McIntyre about how people deal with wasps-the wafters, stay stillers, and complete panickers. It makes me laugh so much  because it is so true! Personally I have always strived to be a stay stiller, but I am more a wafter moving to complete panicker -gets the step count up anyway...

I was watching Springwatch last night, and they were chatting about wasps.  I thought-here we go, I might see the point of them now-but no.  They spoke about how they lay their eggs in other wasps nests, and feed off their larvae.  How they build little 'jar' hives and anaesthetise some poor caterpillar before putting it in the jar, laying their eggs on it, and sealing up the jar, just to have the baby wasps feed on the reviving caterpillar.  How they eat the flesh and non essential parts of the prey just to keep it fresh and alive for as long as possible-and then they said, "We love wasps." Oh yes, right-they are so adorable aren't they??

So what is the point of wasps?  Well, I had a read, and checked out a few things, and found out that they ARE actually quite useful. Wasps were created because:

• They control pest populations
• They eat caterpillars, flies and beetle larvae
• They are valuable pollinators as they visit flowers to drink nectar
• They are enemies of hornets-wasps on steroids-but that is for another day

So, in summary, they're not pretty, they're pretty relentless in their quest to kill things that can be pests in our gardens, they buzz very loudly, and they can sting very sorely..!! Oh-and they are quite useful.  I still don't like them, but if they are made for a purpose, and they keep going with that, then I can put up with them-just.