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Wasps

Rachel31

TS Member
Hi All

I absolutely love AT and was last there on Wednesday. There does seem to be a few wasp nests around the pub area by hex. Each time I go past I see customers sat outside trying to eat and they are trying to waft away large numbers of wasps. I have mentioned it to staff in there a few times but they shrug it off. No one seems to own that whole customer experience in that area. Anyone else noticed this ?
 
Hi All

I absolutely love AT and was last there on Wednesday. There does seem to be a few wasp nests around the pub area by hex. Each time I go past I see customers sat outside trying to eat and they are trying to waft away large numbers of wasps. I have mentioned it to staff in there a few times but they shrug it off. No one seems to own that whole customer experience in that area. Anyone else noticed this ?
Hi Rachel, welcome to Towers Street. I havent been to Towers yet this year but I have noticed waps at other parks, one in particular (which had loads). Obviously it is very warm and the pollen levels are quite high, so wasps are common. The best thing to do is to either eat indoors or avoid foods that attract wasps (such as fruit juice and anything high in sugar), and also apply sunscreen away from high-wasp areas as they are also attracted to this.
 
Unfortunately there is nothing that the parks can do about wasps.

All the traps in the world will not eradicate them. Wasps can travel miles from their nest to go in hunt for food, mating etc..

As @skyscraper say's, wasps are attracted to sugar and the park is full of people eating sugary foods/drinks and ice lollies/ice creams.

This is a problem at all attractions across the UK, not just theme parks. Remember only half of the wasps will sting (Females only, the males can't sting, the same goes for bees). Try not to flap your hands/arms around them, keep calm and use a wasp/insect repellent. Agitating wasps by trying to shoo them away by waving your hands at them will cause them to sting.

Like many creatures that we consider as pest, they also play an important part in our Eco system and should be left well alone.

https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/blogs/2-reasons-to-leave-a-wasp-nest-in-your-yard
 
And, as an outdoor worker...August.
Wasp month.
They want your sugar, now.
Flap your hands to stop them getting it and they will sting.
Schmidt Pain Index level 2 or 3.
All over with in five minutes.
 
I have it on good authority that the best way to deter wasps is to put up fake paper wasp nests. They think the territory is already claimed by another hive and stay away. Of course, the public would probably think they were real nests and freak out even more...
 
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Freezer bags with old pennies and water in do the trick fine round here. I always hang one up on our balcony every February/March time, nothing ever nests. Aparantly they see objects in a octagon type pattern and the light reflecting off the pennies combined with the water gives them a headache (and it looks like a hive too).

The locals think I'm mad and freak out yes, but we have a wasp free garden as a result so I don't care.
 
Not a big fan of wasps.

I could probably tolerate them if they just had a quick mooch around me and then flew off somewhere else when they realise I havn't got any sugar. But no. For some reason they just have to fly and buzz right in my face and around my head for an extended period of time. Sorry, but I can't tolerate that so I have no option but to swing my arms around and run away.
 
I hate the bloody things, be it in theme parks or anywhere else. People say we need them as they pollenate the flowers and kill bugs . Stuff that, bees also pollenate flowers and we got bug sprays for the other stuff !
 
I've became a lot better wasps over the past few years, but I used to constantly freak out at the sight of them - they were, and to some extent still are, my biggest phobia. That being said, they are something now that I accept are present at all parks this time in the year and so I try to do as many little things to make myself unattractive to them, like wearing black or very very dark colours, avoiding carrying sugary drinks in queues, eating inside rather than outside, things like that.

AT, compared to many other parks I've been to, does actually manage its wasp population reasonably well (not that I can comment for this season - yet).
 
All creatures and crawlies great and small are all welcome in our garden. Our planet (and our eco system) needs them, they all are doing good for our planet. It's us humans that are the pest, we are all contributing to the slow destruction of our planet
 
I can tolerate Wasps (just) their sting isn't too bad, just let them have a snout around and they'll soon get bored.
Just don't flap...
 
You say that, but what if you are alergic to their sting? I've only been stung by one once, and it was tiny. But it got me just below the eye. The pain was not "not too bad".

On a side rant, it always annoys me when animal experts on TV hand someone a tarantula then make comments like "Oh, if she bites you it's no worse than a bee sting" That can still be deadly! And often, you never know if you will have a bad reaction to a venom until it happens!
 
They pollinate some flowers and plants, eat smaller creatures, and provide food to loads of small mammals and birds.
A big part of the ecology web, and really needed with the modern mass use of pesticides.
It isn't that long ago that you used to have to clear your screen of bugs every ten miles in summer, the M55 used to be awful for bugs, now you hardly get any.
Some are social and live in paper nests, some live totally solitary lives, often living in little holes in the ground, waiting to sting the idiot gardener with no gloves on, and some live individual lives in small groups, only using the others for childminding and breeding.
Well over one thousand species in this country alone.
I get stung two or three times a year, about the same frequency as I hit cat turd with the strimmer.
I prefer wasps.
 
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