Wasps

Wasps are classified under the order Hymenoptera, which means membraneous wings. All the stinging insects belong to this group and they are a highly evolved group of insects. There are a number of Wasps that live in Wasps nests in the UK. They all have complex social structures and ways of doing things. However they all share a common aim to survive as a species.

 

Large, conspicuous buzzing insects with yellow and black striped, wasp-waisted bodies, which are 10-15mm long. They have a sweet tooth at one end and a painful sting at the other.

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The queen wasp is larger than normal wasps (about 20mm) and she hibernates over winter, making a nest in the spring in which to lay her eggs. She feeds the grubs on insects until they develop into worker wasps, three to four weeks later. Workers, all sterile females, forage for over a mile in search of food. At the end of the year when the colder air arrives, and any fruit that has been edible starts to perish quickly, wasps start to starve as food becomes increasingly hard to find. The adult worker wasps start to die off and the new queen wasps go into hibernation, and emerge in the spring to start the process again, building completely brand new nests. Onenest may produce 30,000 wasps in a year.