How to Tell If You Have an Active Wasp Nest on Your Bardsey Property
Sheds, garages and outbuildings are quiet and sheltered, which makes them popular with wasps, so check carefully before you reach for the door handle.
Opening the door to find out
The mistake people make with outbuildings is to walk in and look. A shed or garage that has been shut for weeks is dry, dark and undisturbed, which is exactly what a queen looks for in spring, and by high summer it may hold a large nest. Opening the door, slamming it or dragging out a lawnmower is the quickest way to meet the colony.
You can learn a lot from outside without stepping in. Use this checklist before you go near the door.
This is a practical guide for anyone with a detached garage, a garden shed, a workshop, a log store, a greenhouse or a farm-style outbuilding. The same rules apply to all of them.
Checking the outside first
Walk round the outbuilding at a respectful distance and look closely at every surface a wasp could use as a doorway.
- Gaps where the roof meets the walls, particularly on corrugated or felted roofs.
- Knot holes, cracks and warped boards in timber cladding.
- Gaps around pipes, cables, vents and window frames.
- The tops of door frames, and the eaves above the door.
- Holes at ground level along the base, where a nest might also be dug under the floor.
A busy gap with a clear two-way flow is your answer. Stay out of the line of flight, and keep to the side of the building rather than directly beneath the opening.
It helps to carry out this check in warm, bright conditions, when any nest will be busiest and therefore easiest to spot. A building that looks completely lifeless on a cold morning may reveal itself at midday.
Take your time. Stand still for several minutes and let your eyes settle on one area at a time. Wasps are small, fast and easy to miss until you have your eye in.
Signs from inside, seen safely
If the shed has a window, you may be able to look in from a distance. Wasps against the glass, a grey papery mass attached to the ceiling, the rafters or a high shelf, or a heap of fibres and dead insects on the floor below, all point to an active nest. You may also hear buzzing when you stand next to the wall.
Pay attention to anything unusual about the building's behaviour. If you can see wasps flying inside and gathering at the window as though trying to get out, that suggests a nest within.
Do not open the door to get a better view or to retrieve something you need. Leave tools, bikes and bags inside until the nest has been dealt with.
One more thing worth noticing is the floor. A scattering of dead wasps or bits of grey fibre beneath a high corner can show where the nest sits, even if you cannot see it from the doorway. Take note of the position and leave it.
Things stored in the way
Outbuildings tend to be full of items that give wasps somewhere to hide: stacked boxes, old furniture, rolled carpet, garden netting and hanging coats. A nest can be tucked behind any of them, and it may only become obvious when someone moves the item.
Make a rule in the household that nobody enters a building where you have seen wasps until it has been checked. Explain to children and visitors why, and make sure anyone who uses the space for work or hobbies knows too. For a business, such as a workshop or storage unit, make sure staff know who to tell and keep the area clear.
Lofts or mezzanine areas above a garage deserve the same caution. If a ladder or hatch gives access to a space under the roof, treat it as part of the building to avoid until the nest has been dealt with.
Someone may be tempted to stand a ladder against the building to look at the roof edge. Do not. A ladder next to an entrance and a wasp nest is a bad combination, since a sting on a ladder can turn into a fall.
What a lone wasp in the shed means
Because outbuildings are not sealed, a single wasp inside is unremarkable. It may have blown in or followed a scent. Several wasps inside, or a rising number each day, are different. Count them from the doorway if you must look, using as little disturbance as possible.
If you find an old nest in the roof of a shed during the winter, it is probably empty, but it should not be knocked down or poked, as a nest that looks old is not always empty, and the disturbance achieves nothing useful.
Bear in mind that a building left unused all summer may be a nesting site for more than one colony, though that would be uncommon. If you have more than one nest on the same property, the second is £35.
Getting help
Tell us which building it is, where on it the traffic is and whether the door opens towards the entrance. We cover Bardsey and the surrounding villages for homes and commercial sites. The fee is a fixed £90 per nest, with £35 for any further nest on the property, and no call-out charge. We agree the price on the phone first and carry out no work without your consent.
Ring 0113 347 0014 or use the online booking form; we work seven days a week and can offer same-day service. Please tell us about any allergies in the household when you book.
If the outbuilding is part of a business, such as a yard store or a unit that staff enter daily, put a clear note on the door and tell everyone who uses it. A moment of warning protects people far better than a sign that nobody reads.
Please do not attempt to sort this out with a quick dash in and out. The few seconds you spend inside are exactly when the colony reacts.
Wasps on your property in Bardsey?
Fixed price £90 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.