5 Signs You Have Wasp Nest And Didn't Know!

Strange noises coming from a wall? Wasps appearing in a room with NO open windows? Getting stung while mowing the lawn? Find out if these are signs of you have a wasp nest.

Wasps flying and landing on your food is just a sign of summer. Something you get more used to as you get older, as you munch on your ice-creams. Whether you decide to push them away or stay completely still in vain hope they disappear, the wasp is an important pollinator in spring and a pain the rest of the time. But how do you know you’ve got a wasp nest at home? Well, there are some tell-tale signs that the wasps have set up home in your forever pad, and they might not be what you expect. Without further ado let’s take a look at five signs you have a wasp nest at home.

Sign #1 - Wasps coming in and out of a hole continuously

This wasp activity is usually noticed from about July onwards during the year as although the nest has been there since about April it isn’t big enough to be noticed beforehand. From April when queen wasps awaken from hibernation the numbers grow and grow until all of a sudden you notice wasp’s coming and going from a particular hole. This can be around a roof area or frankly anywhere! Over the years we have found wasps like to go in the strangest of places such as on boats and even in drawers.

However, keeping it simple here is an example of a wasp nest around the roofline of a building. To make it a bit more obvious we have just treated the nest. In this instance the numbers to grow considerably as more and more come back to the nest wondering what is happening to the home.

Another example here is a wasp nest in a garden. They have decided to make up home in a hole in the ground. If you do discover a wasp nest in the ground, please do not start mowing the lawn. Trying to have the best grass outside of Wimbledon tennis courts can wait. The vibrations of the lawnmower can upset the wasps who will let you know about your indiscretion. Believe me!

You can see them quite clearly coming and going mostly following the same path. This is a very clear indication that you have a wasp nest. Something which is important to say at this point is that if you see insects that look a bit like wasps dancing around a roofline in about June or July time then my friends these are more likely to be tree bumblebees. These are really harmless and great pollinators. Our advice is just let them be (pardon the pun) as they will disappear after a few weeks. Of course, if you see wasps coming and going from a hole then our advice is to get them treated as soon as you can.

Sign #2 - Scratching or cracking sounds coming from a wall

This one’s a bit strange. If you suddenly hear some cracking and scratching noises from a certain part of a room, you may well have a wasp nest. Sometimes it can be mistaken for dripping water, however this is the sound of wasps building the nest.

Check out this video - if you listen closely, you can hear the cracking noise that you are looking for. If you hear this noise, take a look outside at the corresponding place and see if there are wasps coming and going. If you are getting a brown mark on the inside this can mean that the wasps are in fact trying to come through to extend their nest even more. Something you definitely don’t want. If this is the case, I would urge you to get it treated as soon as possible as it’s surprising how quickly wasps can come through the walls creating havoc and damage.

Sign #3 - Wasp flying around your loft light

There’s nothing more exciting than holiday time. Yes, that well-deserved break usually starts with a trip up into the loft to get down your dusty suitcases. When you turn the light on you may notice a few wasps flying around. They tend to fly straight for the light thinking it’s the Sun (not the brightest sparks wasps). Well, they have just given the intel that there is a wasp nest somewhere up there in the loft. If you really need to get the suitcases down quickly then do so but don’t hang about.

The best thing to do is to go outside of the property look up all around the roof area to see if you can see where wasps are coming and going from. This will locate the nest. A pest controller will then know where the nest is and will treat it accordingly.

Sign #4 - Wasps appearing in a room with no windows open?

If you’re ever in the situation where the windows have been closed but you have dead wasps or at least not very lively wasps on the windowsill and no real explanation as to how they got there, then there is a fair chance that you have a wasp nest. This can happen in places like bathrooms where more often than not you have downlights with tiny gaps around the edges.

Stuck up there in the loft the wasp nest is in darkness, however the wasps make their way through cracks of light to the offending room downstairs. If you think this is the case it may be worth turning on the loft light to see if Wasp are up there or alternatively head outside and see once again if you can locate where wasps are coming and going from. With this intel the game is nearly up for the wasps.

Sign #5 - Seeing is Believing!

There is a whole plethora of places that wasp nests can be built. These include garden sheds, lofts, bushes and holes in the ground. Believe me we have seen them in the strangest of areas. If you see a wasp nest the general advice is to slowly close the door sneaking backwards and perhaps apologising to the wasps for invading their privacy, then call in experts like Pure Pest Solutions who are happy to help.

The size of a wasp nest varies greatly throughout the season. For example, in April a nest is usually the size of a ping-pong ball and may not even survive if there are some frosts as these will kill them off. Generally, if a wasp nest survives until June, then it will probably make the whole season. The nest grows all the way until about September or October when it dies usually with the cold snap of winter.

This video shows a nest about three months old, about the size of a football. The nests themselves are made from wasps taking tiny pieces of wood from items of fencing and garden furniture. This is chewed up a bit like papier-mâché and then added to the nest increasing it in size. A wasp nest at the end of the season will have anywhere up to about 10,000 wasps inside.

In Conclusion...

A wasps life-cycle changes towards the end of the year and frankly, they get a bit angry. This due to being starved from their normal food source from within the nest so having to look elsewhere, usually your pint of cider! This final picture is me after removing a particularly large wasps nest from a loft.

If you do think you have a wasp nest or would like to just talk about wasps feel free to get in touch with us and we will happily advise. In fact, we are that awesome that from a video we can tell if you have bees or wasps. Advice costs you nothing and comes complete with a smile. Get in touch with Pure Pest Solutions today!