Is this a Bees Nest or a Wasp Nest?

Is this a bees nest or a wasp nest in my garden shrub? Is it a bee swarm perhaps? These were the questions a customer in Pitlochry asked today. She had been making the most of a break in the weather to catch up with a few jobs in the garden and found a rather nasty surprise in one of the bushes. She’d pushed the bush to one side to get past it and suddenly a cloud of buzzing yellow insects flew out from it; she said she’d have won the 100mt gold medal as she ran to get away from it, with the insects flying after her.  She only just made it back to the house; all a bit of a shock.

She rang us for advice because she needed to get rid of the pest problem but was worried incase the insects in the bush were bees or a bee swarm; she didn’t want to harm bees really because they are beneficial to the environment. We said that the insects sounded far too aggressive to be bees and it was most likely to be a wasps nest. Bumble Bees and Honey Bees will defend a bees nest if they think it is being attacked but it would be unusual for them to chase after her like these insects had, and swarms of bees are usually quite placid.

We visited Pitlochry to survey the pest problem and found that it was indeed a wasps’ nest in the bush, and quite a large one too. Wearing full protective clothing we treated the wasp nest; we removed all the debris and insecticides afterwards to protect the environment. We certainly needed the protective clothing because wasps are very aggressive and sting repeatedly too; they crawl all over you when you’re treating a wasp nest and if you’re not wearing proper clothing then you’ll get badly stung. Getting rid of wasps’ nests is something that really is best left to the professionals.

So, one more wasps’ nest treated and eliminated in Pitlochry and one more happy, and safer, customer. Bring on the next wasps’ nest!