Inside a Jam Jar.

I was quite happily playing with the new garden mincer donated to TD towers by a friend from Riding for the Disabled, when I thought I pricked my finger on a hawthorn thorn. However, it was a bad move by a wasp and they do tend to draw attention to themselves when they sting. It also drew attention to the fact that lots of its playmates were buzzing around the hive. It has been pointed out on the social media that they are sugar junkies, and having just lost their normal suppliers (the larvae that they tend in their nest) they have turned into geriatric delinquents. Bees often fall foul of them and a weak colony can be completely devastated. These were not trying to go into the hive by the front door but were searching for a side entrance where they might sneak in un-observed.
 
As chance would have it, I had just finished a jar of cranberry sauce (I am rather partial to a Brie toastie for lunch) so I used the unwashed jar  to make a wasp trap. I must admit, it was not so much an attempt at a logical solution to a problem as an act of spiteful vengeance but, it did appear to be remarkably effective - which makes it seem as though a minority give the entire species a bad name.
 
The other measure I took was to close the front door of the hive as much as I dared so that the bees now have only a tiny entrance to defend; the little cherub that became confused as to what I was doing and stung me was, of course, immediately forgiven.
 
I had forgotten how badly wasp stings affected me, it wasn’t so much that it hurt but that within a few minutes I started to feel quite ill; however, two piriton did their magic, and I was o.k. after an hour of rest. A bee sting on the other hand takes half an hour to make its presence felt and the antihistamine takes several minutes to work.