Honey Bee’s
Honey bees are fuzzy, including the eyes. They have an elongated body, which is orange-brown, with black markings on the abdomen.
They live in large colonies with a single queen, many sterile females workers and some male drones. In the wild honey bees nest in hollow trees.
Queen bees can live for several years, but the summer-born worker bees live for only a few weeks. Those maturing later can usually survive the winter period by huddling together, with the queen, and eating stored food. Drones are turned out of the hive in autumn and left to die.
They sting once and only attack when threatened. But, as with wasps, the ‘smell’ of a bee’s venom causes other bees to attack.
Honey Bees Pest Control Treatment
Honeybees are important flower pollinators so it is ‘Best Practice’ not to kill honey bees and you are advised to contact the National Beekeepers Association for further advice.
Bumblebees
These large, hairy bees are generally black with varying degrees of yellow banding. Look closely at flowering plants and you’ll probably spot several species.
Often bumblebees are confused with honeybees, however there are some key differences. Bumblebees are larger, rounder and furrier than honeybees and have a coloured stripes across the end of their tails. There are 24 different types of bumblebees which can vary in size and colour.
Common bumblebee species include garden, red-tailed, white-tailed, buff-tailed and field bumblebees.
They are very social insects, living in colonies of up to 200 workers. Queens will hibernate underground during the winter, emerging in spring to find suitable nest.
Each queen builds a nest of dried grasses and then lays about a dozen eggs that hatch into workers.
The worker bees gather the pollen and nectar to feed later batches of grubs. New queens and males hatch at the end of the season and mate. The males, workers and old queens die; new queens hibernate.
Bumblebees are not aggressive and will only sting if they feel threatened. They are important pollinators of many plants and fruiting trees.
Bumblebee Pest Control Treatment
Much like honey bees, bumblebees are important pollinators, with research suggesting that bees are responsible for pollinating 90% of our crops globally. Therefore please do not disturb the nest. As mentioned above, they only sting if they feel threatened, so should not be of any concern and will die out at the end of summer.
Solitary bees
Solitary bees make up the largest percent of the bee population, with 90% of bees being in the solitary category. They are smaller than bumblebees and they appear black/brown on their tail. Only female Solitary bees carry a sting, but will only sting on rare occasions when they feel threatened. Solitary bees fly alone and do not form swarms or protect their nests. Solitary bees create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, holes in wood, or, most commonly, in tunnels in the ground.
Solitary bees do not live in colonies, they do not serve a queen, nor do they make honey or produce wax. While some species of solitary bee nest in large groups, and a few have even evolved social behaviour much like bumblebees, but they generally build individual nests and work alone.
Food sources for solitary bees include wildflowers and fruit trees. But solitary bees can’t fly as far as honeybees to forage and, because of their size, they are choosier about what they can feed on.
Solitary Bees Pest Control Treatment
Similar to Bumblebees, solitary bees are important pollinators and should be left alone. In fact, contrary to popular belief that the honeybee is the best pollinator of all our plants, flowers and trees, solitary bees outperform these larger species hands down.
Solitary bees only sting if they feel threatened, so should not be of any concern and will die out at the end of summer.
Wasps
Wasps have smaller waists (called a petiole), with longer bodies and legs when compared to bees. Wasps also have more obvious bright yellow stripes.
Wasps tend to be more aggressive in nature than bees and are known for their nasty stings and seemingly unprovoked attacks. Wasps nests tend to be paper like, with distinctive grooves in them.
They come in every colour imaginable, from the familiar yellow to brown, metallic blue, and bright red. Generally, the brighter coloured species are in the Vespidae, or stinging wasp, family.
The lives of wasps in the UK are dictated by the seasons. They need a large amount of insects to feed their young, so are typically only active during the warmer months, when food is readily available.
The worker wasps of social species die off late in autumn, while recently emerged females hibernate. They spend the cold months in sheltered areas such as lofts and animal burrows.
But only some survive the chill. Those that do emerge when the weather warms up begin to form new colonies.
Despite the fear they sometimes evoke, wasps are extremely beneficial to humans. Nearly every pest insect on Earth is preyed upon by a wasp species, either for food or as a host for its parasitic larvae.
Wasps are so adept at controlling pest populations that in some countries, the agriculture industry regularly deploys them to protect crops.
Wasp Pest Control Treatment
Although wasps do have their place in the ecosystem, in urban areas they are often more of a hindrance than a help!
We advise removing wasp nests. Go-Pest will apply an insecticide near the entrance of the nest. The wasps then bring the chemical into the nest, and after a couple of days the wasps will die from the dose of the pesticide. We will then return to remove the nest from your property.
Hornets
Although not very common in the UK. Hornets bear many similarities to wasps. If you see them on your property, it is likely to be the European hornet (Vespa crabro) species.
Hornets appear very similar to common wasps, but are much larger and coloured a chestnut-brown (rather than black) and yellow. They build papery nests in hollow trees, although hornet nests have been discovered in wall cavities and chimneys in urban environments.
The hornet’s life cycle is like that of the common wasp. Newly mated queens hibernate during the winter and emerge in spring to begin building a nest. They lay eggs that hatch into sterile female workers who take over nest building and collecting food for the developing larvae. Later in the summer males and fertile female’s hatch. These mate and the females become next year’s queens. The males, old queen and workers die in the autumn.
Hornets are less aggressive than wasps, but will still bite or sting repeatedly to defend the nest if they feel threatened. Although they may be less aggressive than wasps, their stings can be just as painful. And even life threatening to those that are allergic.
Hornet Pest Control Treatment
Similar to wasps, Go-Pest will apply an insecticide near the entrance of the nest. The Hornets then bring the chemical into the nest. After a couple of days the Hornets will die from the dose of the pesticide. We will then remove the nest from your property.
Looking for expert bee nest removal or wasp nest removal in London? Contact Go-Pest Environmental Services today for expert pest control in London and the surrounding counties.
