Its All About Wasps

Very often people ask us what purpose do wasps serve?

In early summer wasps, like bees, pollinate plants and flowers as they feed on nectar. If we were to eradicate all wasps it would cause more problems than it would solve. So, wasps do serve a purpose and despite being a problem at certain times of the year, they are a beneficial insect. So in the natural world, wasps although irritating to humans, have their role to play.

Wasps and hornets are predatory insects and spend a lot of their time hunting and catching smaller insects to feed to their larvae (young wasp grubs). The insect prey is killed by the adult wasps and chewed up into small food packages and taken back to the nest. These food parcels are then fed to the young wasp larvae which turn the exoskeletons (chitin) of these prey insects into a sugary solution which they feed back to the adult wasps.

It is difficult to guess the exact numbers of insects which are killed by a single wasp colony through the course of a summer. It has been suggested that a single wasp nest will catch approx 5 metric tons of insects in one year. Whilst we are not entirely convinced of that number whatever it actually is, it will be substantial.