A chain of events
So, all my neighbours seem to be building extensions. I live in a cul-de-sac and my back garden abuts onto a house in the main part of the street. The owner has built an extension that extends towards my back garden.
A couple of weeks ago my satellite receiver stopped working. No satellite signal. I called out the engineer (I have repair insurance on the box) and he confirmed my suspicions. The extension was now blocking the satellite signal. The dish would have to be moved.
The upper half of my house is tile, not brick, and there is no chimney, so the only place a dish can be installed is on the lower bricked part. It was on the brick shed that extends into the garden. The guy reckoned I'd get a signal putting the dish on the wall of the house between the living room and kitchen windows. He started tapping the wall to mark where to drill and suddenly ran screaming into the house. There were lots of wasps about.
Next to the spot where he wanted to drill is an old hook. There used to be a washing line attached there but that snapped many years ago and I have a tumble dryer. There was a hole in the wall next to the hook and wasps were streaming in and out. I had a wasps' nest.
Turned out the engineer had a wasp phobia. So he found another spot for the dish, away from the wasps, still on the shed but nearer the house - at a height where I can walk into it if I'm not careful.
I was tempted to let the wasps be, but I realised by the white flecks on their mandibles as they left the hole that they were eating away the cavity insulation. I looked on Checkatrade and there's a local company called The Wasp Guys. Sounded like just the people I needed.
A wasp guy turned up this morning. Very efficient. He suited up in a protective tunic with hood and mask and stuck a spout in the hole and started shooting powder into it. This made the wasps very lively, but they do seem to have now stopped. He reckons that should have killed the queen and wasps don't like re-using old nests. If they are still active after a couple of days, they'll come back for free. Also posted to Dreamwidth. There are
comments there so far.
A couple of weeks ago my satellite receiver stopped working. No satellite signal. I called out the engineer (I have repair insurance on the box) and he confirmed my suspicions. The extension was now blocking the satellite signal. The dish would have to be moved.
The upper half of my house is tile, not brick, and there is no chimney, so the only place a dish can be installed is on the lower bricked part. It was on the brick shed that extends into the garden. The guy reckoned I'd get a signal putting the dish on the wall of the house between the living room and kitchen windows. He started tapping the wall to mark where to drill and suddenly ran screaming into the house. There were lots of wasps about.
Next to the spot where he wanted to drill is an old hook. There used to be a washing line attached there but that snapped many years ago and I have a tumble dryer. There was a hole in the wall next to the hook and wasps were streaming in and out. I had a wasps' nest.
Turned out the engineer had a wasp phobia. So he found another spot for the dish, away from the wasps, still on the shed but nearer the house - at a height where I can walk into it if I'm not careful.
I was tempted to let the wasps be, but I realised by the white flecks on their mandibles as they left the hole that they were eating away the cavity insulation. I looked on Checkatrade and there's a local company called The Wasp Guys. Sounded like just the people I needed.
A wasp guy turned up this morning. Very efficient. He suited up in a protective tunic with hood and mask and stuck a spout in the hole and started shooting powder into it. This made the wasps very lively, but they do seem to have now stopped. He reckons that should have killed the queen and wasps don't like re-using old nests. If they are still active after a couple of days, they'll come back for free. Also posted to Dreamwidth. There are
comments there so far.