European Wasps

In Ohio we called them "Yellow Jackets" - but here they're known as "European Wasps". According to the Museum Victoria website, they were first found in Melbourne in 1977 - and let me tell you they've spread like mad.

I notice them most in the autumn, when (just as they did in Ohio) they seem to become more aggressive than usual. I know several people who've found them nesting in their homes - and had to call an exterminator to get rid of them. I've been lucky so far - even though I think our weatherboard siding would certainly look like great housing to a wasp, we've not had any in the house yet. But they certainly are around - there's a bumper crop of them around at the moment, so I'm certain a nest is nearby - but I don't know exactly where.

I found an online article which describes how to locate European Wasp nests. The author observes that the wasps generally fly in a straight line back and forth between their nest sites and sources of food and water. He suggests setting up a "wasp trap" - but one that the wasps can actually get out of - and observing the wasps as they leave it. The idea is to follow the wasps from the trap back to the nest. Of course the wasps are pretty fast and hard to follow, so the author's idea is that you gradually move the trap along the flight line, closer and closer to where the wasps are heading when they leave. His idea is that eventually you end up at or near the entrance to the nest.

Well, OK... but...

... any suggestions on how to move the trap without getting stung?

Back in March I came across a Preying Mantis feasting on one of these wasps and took this photo:

GOOD BUG!  Bon Appetit!