Wasps, Hornets & Bees

Wasp Nest Removal – Scunthorpe & North Lincolnshire 

There are many reasons why you may want to get rid of wasps. Maybe it is your own fear of being stung, or maybe you are concerned that your child, elderly relative, employees or customers might get stung! Wasp stings are not only painful, but some people are so allergic to wasp venom that wasp stings can actually be lethal. Causing rapid swelling of the face, throat and tongue leading to a closure of the airways, a lack of oxygen and then cardiac arrest. Sorry to sound dramatic but our managing director Ian Walshaw was NHS Emergency ambulance crew and he actually saw this on more than one occasion!

As the weather warms you will start to see queen wasps (they are quite big) searching for somewhere to nest. Once she has found a suitable spot, in a tree hollow, in a disused burrow but more regularly in your shed, garage, soffits or roof she will start to build a nest and begin to lay eggs. 

As she produces more and more workers the nest just gets bigger and bigger. A starter nest can be like a golf ball and an established nest can be like a giant exercise ball and any shape in between. At different parts of the season wasps are attracted to different things. Early in the season they are attracted to meat like substances, late in the season they are attracted to sweet substances. This explains why they are a common pest at barbecues or in pub beer gardens.

Trapping wasps is effective at reducing numbers but at the rate a queen lays eggs trapping wasps is just the tip of the iceberg. 

How to get rid of wasps in Scunthorpe & North Lincolnshire homes 

We have heard all manner of well meaning advice on the internet about how to tackle a wasps nest. The first thing to consider is health and safety. Wasps are highly aggressive and never more so than when you disturb their nest. A wasp unlike a bee can produce multiple stings. All Briarquest pest control technicians will wear protective equipment including protective suits, respirators and gloves. We don’t like being stung!

The next thing is that DIY wasp nest killer contains pyrethroids at level that is considered low enough for non professional use. The problem with using pyrethroids on any insect including wasps is that prior to death it puts the wasp into a highly agitated state. Now it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that several thousand highly agitated wasps who have just had their nest attacked are not going to be best pleased and these wasps are going to pose a severe risk to you, your family, your pets, your employees or guests. 

Briarquest Pest Control Technicians will use professional grade insecticides when treating your wasp nest. If it is safe to do so they will remove the actual nest but in most cases we will need to leave it in situ so that foraging wasps returning to the nest will also be exposed to the insecticide. We can return at a later date and remove the actual nest for a small charge as long as it is accessible.

Finally, bees are often confused for wasps. Honey bees and solitary tree bees, masonry bees and bumble bees will often buzz around your brickwork. If you own a pair of binoculars have a look at where you can see the wasps or bees flying. Wasps have a more distinctive striped body. But bees feeding young will often have large coloured pollen sacks on their hind legs. We do not treat bees under any circumstances and this little check could save you a callout fee. 

Hornet Pest Control in Scunthorpe 

A hornet nest, whether it be a European Hornet or Asian Hornet can strike fear into a person due to it looking like a giant wasp. Surely anything that looks like a wasp but is four times the size has to be four times more painful!

Hornets are dealt with very much the same as wasps, we have to be very careful with the less common Asian Hornet as this as the name belies is not native to the UK and they will literally destroy a honey bee colony very quickly. In the UK we are trying to track the slow creep of the Asian Hornet northwards as it is now becoming common in the Channel Islands and the southern counties. 

Bee Control in Scunthorpe & North Lincs 

We would just like to point out that we do not poison bees! We do not poison any type of bee! Do not ask us to poison bees!

There are several species of bees in the UK but the two that most people are aware of are the honey bee and the bumble bee.

Honey bees will quite often cause a problem by deciding to setup a new home under your soffits, in air vents, behind brickwork and inside chimneys. Sometimes a swarm can easily be removed, on other occasions it becomes a more serious problem involving what is known as a chop out where a builder or roofer is required to attend and gain access to the bee colony. We can safely rehome bees and their nests, arranging to make good any brickwork, roofing or chimney problems. The key with honey bee swarms is to act fast as once they get established and start packing the hive with honey and young then things will only get worse. 

Bumble Bee Control in Scunthorpe 

Once again, we do not poison bees but we can relocate them for you if the nest is accessible. Bumble bees are not really aggressive as long as you leave them alone. Their nests look like little collections of milky marbles and males will quite often loiter outside nests in gangs waiting for new queens to emerge.

Bumble bees have been known to nest in lofts and under sheds or under garden waste and in compost heaps. 

Solitary bees 

Finally, we do not poison these bees either! There are so many species of bees and in the absence of a bee hotel nicely made from bamboo stalks masonary bees will use voids in your brickwork or air bricks to nest. They will often be seen flying in and out of brickwork but in very small number and nothing like a wasp infestation.

Similarly mining bees who live in little tunnels in the soil will be seen flying in with pollen for their young and are often confused with wasps with them living in the ground or under grates or water main inspection covers etc. On a scale of 1 to 10 solitary bees have such a mild stinging capability that if a wasp is a 1 then a solitary bee will be an 8 and if you just leave them alone they will be gone in a few weeks and everything will be fine. 

We are sorry but if you call us out to what you think are wasps but they turn out to be bees you will incur a callout charge. We would encourage you to try look at the site safely with binoculars, zoomed in photographs or video and send them to us for species identification.  When it comes to bees, then please do no harm. 25% of bees in the UK are endangered and none of them, contrary to popular belief are protected!