This wasps' nest was removed from my loft not so long ago. Its patterning is wonderful. And yet, despite the huge numbers of bumble bees around this year, there seem to be very few wasps. Why?
There is plenty of falling ripe fruit for them- plums, apples, and pears have had generous crops this season. So where are the wasps? Did last year's constant rain affect their numbers ( I saw very few queens around in the early spring)?
There have also been fewer ladybirds in evidence. Is this what we can expect in the future, dearths or gluts of certain insects? Red admiral butterflies are another insect missing from this autumn. Yet in a friends' field I have seen absolutely hundreds of those jewelled leaf beetles busy decimating dock leaves.(My friend was very pleased!)
Not that I am personally sorry there is an absence of wasps; I've been stung often enough to have great respect for them, respect best observed from a wide distance between myself and them. But they do a very good job of cleaning up, being fairly catholic in their food tastes.
Maybe next year they'll be present in vast numbers...
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