It is a ‘good wasp year’, they notice at the wasp foundation

“I see the cup already … yes … there it comes!”, Nathan Veenstra says happily. Veenstra is spokesman for the wasp foundation. Occasionally he himself moves wasp nests from back gotten to a safe place, such as the dozens of volunteers of the foundation do throughout the Netherlands. On this summer afternoon in the Schudeling, he leaves a very special couple ” Sophie and Onno.

Between the leaves of the bush is the gray, oval litter. Slightly larger than a football, marble -like pattern, there are several hundred wasps in it. Because of the round opening – as large as a euro coin – at the bottom, one of the wasps has just put its cup. “These wasps are not that aggressive,” says Veenstra. “They don’t let themselves be crazy.” They do not sit on pastries, lemonade or other sweet food. This nest can, unlike many other nests, hang on the fence here. Special, says Veenstra.

Zoef. The wasp flies away from the small opening. Looking for food for the wasp larvae and for wood and plant stems to expand the nest.

Walkers

This summer people and wasps meet each other much more often than last year. They also know that at the wasp foundation. Although their fame has also grown, the rise in the number of questions about wasp nests – more than two thousand this year compared to about eight hundred over the whole year – shows that this is a ‘good wasp year’.

In recent days, meetings between people and wasps (nests) sometimes went pretty wrong. On Friday, during the Heuvelland4daagse in South Limburg, around forty hikers who walked past wasp nests, a large wasp species, were stabbed by European hornets. Two walkers became unwell, writes the NOSand had to go to the hospital. They are doing well again. Earlier this week a woman in Amersfoort received a severe allergic reaction after a stab from an Asian hornet, writes the AD.

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That people and wasps have more to do with each other does not have to be a problem. Even though they can lead to nasty incidents, wasps are not an enemy, says Veenstra. As long as they don’t feel threatened, wasps don’t want to hurt people.

Why are there so many more wasps now than last year? Simply because there were little last year. That can have all kinds of causes, says Naturalis insect expert Jan Wieringa by telephone from his holiday destination in Corsica. “Last year it was too dry and hot during the spring, for example, so there were few flowers and prey animals such as mosquitoes and flying for the wasps to eat from.”

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Lemonade

The so -called middle wasp lives in the litter in Apeldoorn. They are larger than the well -known lemonade wespes that fly around terraces and smaller than horners.

The body of a queen of the middle wasp is red -brown, and therefore looks like that of the Hoornaar. This middle wasp has a yellow armor behind his eyes, at De Hoornaar that part is brown.

According to Veensta, the Netherlands has sixteen so -called social wasp species: wasps that live together in nests. Such a litter will continue to exist for a year at most. In addition to these social wasps, there are also about two hundred species of social ants and thirty types of social bees that are officially part of the waspes. In addition, around six thousand solitary species live here. Those are waspes who live alone and do not build a nest.

At the first walkers who walked past the nests, the horners probably thought ‘okay’

Does the increase in the number of wasps this year have something to do with climate warming? Not necessarily. The weather influences the number of wasps in different ways, and that is why climate change does not directly lead to more wasps. But the species distribution in the Netherlands does change due to climate warming, says insect expert Wieringa. “The red wasp that I saw a lot in my youth has become rarer. Those big hornets used to live alone in the south and east of the Netherlands where it is relatively hot. Now that the rest of the Netherlands is getting warmer, horners are spreading throughout the country.”

What the Hoornaars did in South Limburg is, according to Veenstra, of the Wasp Foundation, nothing more than protecting the nest. Like social wasps, one kind faster and more aggressive than the other. “With the first walkers who walked along the nests, they probably thought ‘okay’, but after the umpteenth walk they were fed up. Then they feel threatened and come out to defend the nest. Then they flew around the walkers or against them, as an intimidation, you should not run away from the nest. The size full and they are going to prick.

Worners are larger than other wasps, are they also more dangerous? Wieringa: “They have a little more poison. But actually, like other wasps, they are only dangerous if you are allergic. The first time you are stung, you often do not yet know that you are allergic. Allergy is building up.”

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Jam

“Now we have to take a distance,” Veenstra shouts in the garden in Apeldoorn. Although the middle wasp is less likely to defend than the horners, Onno’s mother went too far to move the bush because she wants to cut a place. First about ten wasps crawl through the opening and then sit on the nest. Then they start flying around. Veenstra is not so impressed with intimidation.

Except stay away from nests and stay calm so that wasps do not feel threatened, what else can you do to prevent a stitch? To prevent interaction with the lemonade wesp, which is more aggressive than the middle wasp, “put some jam down a few meters from your terrace,” says Wieringa. Then they learn that you can get a sweet stuff there and they leave your beer and cakes alone. That works very well. I put a game of jam five meters from my terrace myself. In the meantime they are already waiting there in the morning, before I put down the jam. And if they still come on the terrace, just stay calm. They are not interested in you, but in your food. “

At Veenstra of the Wespin Foundation it only went wrong once. Then when he moved a nest of the lemonade wesp, he had not closed his white suit well to his ankles. “A wasp poked in my ankle several times. Then it swelled and then I couldn’t walk for a day.” Risk of the profession.

That incident did not destroy his great love for the animal. In his own backyard a little further in Apeldoorn, where he moved two litters to, he says: “Do you have to come and listen from close by. Do you hear that ticking from those legs? So cute.”

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