is it just round these parts that there has been a lack of Wasps?

Normally we will have maybe 3 Wasp bikes in and around our property (mainly in the stables thank god) per year. This year none. They had made a start on 2 but they never got bigger than the size of ping pong balls. What brought the lack of wasps to mind was while I have been picking an enormous crop of Apples. I got 2 laden builders barrow full off 1 tree and none of the apples have been eaten by wasps as they often are.
We had an amazing early Spring and gorgeous weather until July when it then all went down hill fast, lots of rain and little sunshine. Is this the reason? We have had masses of Bees on the other hand. My garden is very Bee friendly and we have a huge variety of them. I would have thought Bees and Wasps enjoy similar weather but maybe not. Are others also experiencing less wasps than normal? I can't say I am sad re their no show and husband is highly allergic to their strings so glad in a way but slightly puzzling.

 

Only seen the odd couple down here this year

 

They are all in our Loft. There is a nest up there which is a good 2 feet across.

 

Could I send my husband down for a short holiday with you @Palustris? He wouldn't stay long, a couple of stings and that would necessitate him being whisked off to hospital. The last time he got stung (stood on a wasp's bike with shorts on...not clever) it was slightly touch and go that he was going to make it. Jess a bike 2ft across is a fairly major nest. That foamy stuff which kills Wasps is quite good if you can actually get to the entrance to the nest.

 

No wasps, no ladybirds, no wood lice, ants still seem to be able to survive along with bluebottles.

Insects are on the way out I'm thinking.
Strange since the EU have banned nearly all pesticides that we used in the 70s and 80s which were considered harmful to the environment.

The new"friendly" stuff that farmers are using, to my mind, appears to be harming friendly insects more than the old dangerous ones.

You could blame the weather and go on at length about "climate change", but that would be pulling the wool over our eyes a bit too much, I think.

Climate Change

 

Few wasps and few ladybirds, however @pete I can post you some wood lice as I have plenty as usual.

 

My wife is also slightly allergic to wasp stings to the hospital visit extent that is. Did you know that originally they were called waps not wasps?
They will die off as soon as we get any decent amount of cold and I will then be able to go up and remove the defunct nest. The entrance is in the apex of the roof, so actually getting to it is impossible.
There actually have been a lot fewer of them around than usual though.

 

The shortage of wasps here is down to the weather early on last year which killed a lot of the queens. The numbers have not yet recovered from that.
We have a very large population of ladybirds this year. The cherry tree was smothered in their larva. The adults are just beginning to come into the house to hibernate as the weather cools.
As for bees and hoverflies, well the ivy flowers along the lane are alive with them the second there is any hint of sunshine.

 

Thats only the "remains." The "leaves" are here with us!

 

Remarkably fewer wasps here , seen a few ladybirds.

 

I didn't, but thats what I call them

 

Lots of wasps here, had one nest by the back door (had to go as they were getting nasty) then had another nest by the front door which had to go because posty uses that door, so i've killed about 300/400 wasps, sorry, but they just had to go if they were in the trees or even up on the roof they would have been left, but they were to close for comfort

Are you sure they using the new stuff, as some have still got some old stuff

how does the new stuff know the differents between good insects and bad insects, they don't, i've seen a sprayer yesterday and the day before when it was windy and still sparying (ok it was to spary off the regrowth of the barley field but they were sparying when windy which is a NO NO over a certon wind speed)

 

Are you saying some farmers are using chemicals from the 80s early 90s?

If they are I wouldn't be worried, as back then insects of all kinds were still around.

Dont see grasshoppers/crickets anymore, butterflies are very scarce, moths almost no existant, and not seen any crane flies yet.

 

No, there's lots of chemical which were banned in 2000-2016 and some people stocked up but i should think that they are used up by now

How many gardeners have old chemicals in there shed and still use them, but in the farming world there is to be a record of what was used, which field etc, but as in every industry there are people who follow the rules and there are people that don't follow the rules and the one's that don't follow the rules are the problem

Some chemicals are only to be used once in a harvest year so if the problem is still there you cann't use it again, but if you got some left and you don't record it going onto a field who's going to know