"Les Crossan" wrote in message
k...
These 'Mediterranean' jobs along with the regular British yellow and black
things (and huge bumblebees, hoverflies with the occasional hornet thrown
in) are precipitating any number of highland flings at my workplace in
Peterlee... any entomologists (?) got a handle on them ??

Gonna be a bad year for wasps.

Les

It`s not uncommon to have a lot of imports this time of year, especially
when the predominant weather is from Europe.
They (imported species) tend to colonise very quickly, very true of the
Mediteranean wasps (Dichlorovespula Media) a darker,slightly larger and more
aggressive species than the UK type. They build the classic hanging paper
type nest in trees whereas the UK wasp prefers holes in trees/walls a bloody
attics!
Don`t know why the sudden increase of hoverflies, maybe they got jealous of
the past summer plagues eg. Ladybirds/Green algea/speed cameras;-)

--
Petel .
02 M2 Buell.
C90-ZZR.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peteh1/website/index.html

At some ,
dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers typed:
Whats happened in the last couple of weeks that has brought out the
wasps -

Certainly a lot of wasps about in my little bit of heaven on earth -
yes, wasps, not hoverflies, easy to tell the difference. Lots of
hoverflies too mind you - and very few greenfly :-)

Cheers.


I'm used to hoverflies, but it seems my friends in London aren't - they mistook them for small wasps.

At some ,
Phil Layton typed:
trying not to sound patronising You don't mean the plague of
Hoverflies do you?

Probably cupra. Whose responsible for them ?

Phil

Not sure - there was talk of a European invasion in the South East, but there's loads here in Northants so I doubt they would bother to fly all the way over here !

My guess is the predator/prey cycle - plenty of greenfly for the larvae to eat!

......a couple of them stung me in the mouth last week! (Standard British
Wasps as I recall)-yes, I know, many lessons to be learned from that event.
A couple of their smaller mates (Hoverflies I believe) accompanied me on a
flight in the glider as well.
George

Oh horrors! That is one of my two greatest nightmares in gliding - finding a
wasp* in the cockpit with me. (The other is being above cloud when all the gaps
close suddenly).

(*or some other noxious creature like a cobra or scorpion or funnelweb spider -
but at least those are not very likely to hitch a lift in Britain, thank
goodness.)

Now that you've reminded me I think I'll have to give up gliding until the wasp
season is over ....

Anne

Yeah, tell me about it - been stung three times in the last week, out
cycling

Nasty. So far I've been lucky.


Having to cycle with my mouth closed all the time - got stung in the
mouth last year - most unpleasant!

Even nastier. My current pet hate is cycling by a manure heap (of which there
are plenty hereabouts) or a pultry shed and finding I've swallowed too many
flies... YUK.

Cheers.



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I'm used to hoverflies, but it seems my friends in London aren't - they =
mistook them for small wasps.

Blinking townies, so far removed from nature ;-)

Cheers.



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At some ,
dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers typed:
Yeah, tell me about it - been stung three times in the last week, out
cycling

Nasty. So far I've been lucky.


Having to cycle with my mouth closed all the time - got stung in the
mouth last year - most unpleasant!

Even nastier. My current pet hate is cycling by a manure heap (of
which there are plenty hereabouts) or a pultry shed and finding I've
swallowed too many flies... YUK.

Cheers.

Try a canal towpath in Summer - I keep forgetting to cut up an old net curtain to use as a filter over my nose and mouth (cycling is too difficult holding ones breath, isn't it!).

At some ,
dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers typed:
I'm used to hoverflies, but it seems my friends in London aren't -
they = mistook them for small wasps.

Blinking townies, so far removed from nature ;-)

Cheers.


lol! In their defence they know where eggs and milk come from........ Tescos

In uk.sci.weather on Fri, 6 Aug 2004 at 08:18:22, dirtylitterboxoffering
stospammers wrote :

Even nastier. My current pet hate is cycling by a manure heap (of which there
are plenty hereabouts) or a pultry shed and finding I've swallowed too many
flies... YUK.

I just have to ask - how many flies is an acceptable number to swallow
then?
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham

I just have to ask - how many flies is an acceptable number to swallow
then?

preferrably none. However, I console myself with the knowledge that it's
important to keep a healthy balance of intestinal flora & fauna, and that
swallowing a fly is a lot cheaper than buying a pot of Yakault ;-)

Cheers, helen s


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