I called the roofer yesterday as a damp patch had appeared on the ceiling just above our bed. I thought it was a slipped tile on one of the roof gables (there are several gables here hence the name) snd he did a quick reccy and arranged to return on Thursday with his extra long ladder. At half past midnight i went upstairs to go to bed. The sight that met me was not pleasant. There were several wasps buzzing around and a wasp crawling out of the hole in the damp patch in the ceiling. Yikes! I called J and he grabbed his bee suit and a screwdriver and a can of insecticide that I keep downstairs. He battled the wasps, removed the honey comb in which they lay their eggs and pulled out hundreds of grubs

We decided to sleep in a different room until we could call our reliable pest control guru, Jamie, who arrived this morning and donned his bee suit

He cleared out the remaining few wasps snd spread a noxious powder into the cavity. Then he taped up the hole and, with a bit of luck, that’s the end of that particular wasp nest.

On the way out he and Jeremy talked about the different lifestyles of wasps and bees and Jamie (who had cleared 20 wasp nests yesterday) told J that he is often called to collect bee swarms hanging from peoples front doors. He puts them into boxes and then rehomes them with clients who are beekeepers. J is going on his list of potential bee recipients! Wasps keep away!