WASPS ? BEES ?

Ok, folks, we are still getting called out and seeing posts on social media about this very subject. But instead of being whitetails and wood bees it's now come down to wasp and honeybees.

This may sound like something we keep going on about but it's also a very important subject.
So here is a quick and simple guide;

Wasps:
Striped, bright yellow and black. fly to and from an entrance hole, and fly with no visible legs dangling underneath.will sting readily and unprovoked. Nests can be anywhere with suitable cover from the elements. In early wasp season which is now, you may see something along the lines of a couple wasps hanging around the entrance, trying to enter the nest. Maybe one or two going in and a couple coming out within a minute or two.

The wasp nests we are treating currently are around the size of between two baseballs or half a football. In numbers, I would estimate at around 100+ minimum.

Our advice in a wasp situation is to call a certified professional and Hopefully with a guarantee. For the Oxford area like Didcot, Wallingford, Abingdon, Wantage, then get in contact with us at Shire pest solutions today and don't risk your own health.

Bees:
At this point, we are talking honey bees in particular.
Appearance. Dark, they are yellow/orange and black but not as vivid as wasps and are not as stripey, fly with legs dangling visibly underneath. When they appear at your property they will come in a swarm, eventually settle down and maybe ever fly off as soon as they have settled. That could be settling on a tree branch, against a wall or even inside a wall or other structure via an exploited gap, basically, anywhere they can get a grip. With honeybees, you generally see a constant swarm around the "nest" entrance in the day. There will always be activity around the entrance, without the constant trying to enter/exit the property as wasps do but just "hanging around". If you have noticed this, lets say above your (used, unused) chimney for past few years it could cause a bigger problem than you think or if it's the first you have noticed it may well be a new settlement, but if they have settled and with thanks to the honeycomb they could have built up it can cause a problem. Now even in this situation, it's a problem that can be dealt with, although the price can vary hugely. Costs for this can include things like access equipment for say a chimney extraction (cherry picker), specialised bee removal equipment (which only works if the queen is removed) along with all Honeycomb, plus the time spent doing the removal. The cost can outweigh the problem most of the time. Where honeybees are concerned pest control is not the way forward.please contact a local bee keeper. These can be found at https://www.bbka.org.uk/ along with more in-depth information on bees.

We can treat honey bees but they are getting fewer every year and unless it's a proven health problem (proven allergic or children present that they cause danger to just to name two) or a beekeeper cannot remove and still presents a danger then we won't even consider it.

There are very limited products on the professional pest control market that are cleared for use on bees and I personally believe the products that are available for bees are only there to be used in public health situations.

Hopefully, you should have gained something from this blog, but if not and you have questions you know how to contact us. As I've said this is a simple and short blog, I can expand more but don't wish to bore our good followers.

Hope you all have enjoyed this quick blog and maybe learnt something. If not, I at least hope you have enjoyed my latest attempt at blog writing.

Keep well and if you need us get in contact here
Mike