OUR FRIEND THE WASP

We often see wasps as a bit of a foe but they are actually of great benefit to gardeners, as Becky Searle explains

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As far as garden insects go, wasps don't often rank very highly in the popularity stakes. There are around 7,000 species of wasps in the UK but most of us are only really familiar with the social wasps or yellowjackets. These are the stripey ones that bother you at picnics, slip into your soft drink can and chase you down if you have a jam sandwich. Many of us will have experienced the itchy, burning pain of being stung by one of these guys. Just like bumblebees, they actually only sting when they feel threatened.

I have experienced several stings from accidentally threatening wasps with activities such as sitting, walking barefoot and leaning back on my hands in the grass. It's not hard to see why people feel scared of them. For a lot of people, the knee-jerk reaction to being approached by a wasp is to jump up and wave their arms to shoo it away. This behaviour mimics one of the wasp's main natural predators, the badger. Badgers often use their tough paws to dig up wasp nests, eating the grubs and most of the nest in the process. By acting like a badger, waving our own paws around, we inadvertently make wasps feel threatened and increase our chances of sustaining a nasty sting. Moreover, children are more likely to get stung because of their erratic behaviour and lack of observation so many people experience getting stung at a young age, which can pave the way for a life-long fear.

The social wasps, however, represent only nine species of British wasps, a tiny proportion of the dazzling diversity of the Vespidae family. You might say that they are a poor spokesperson and have done nothing for public relations.

THE BENEFITS