Pest controller Bruce Lindsay Smith has removed one of the biggest wasp nests of his career. It was one of two he had to deal with. this one was on top of a water tank in the attic of a house.
According to Guinness World Records, the largest wasp nest ever recorded was found on a farm at Waimaukau, New Zealand, in April 1963. Despite being composed of wood scrapings mashed up with saliva into a papier-mâché like substance, it was so heavy that it had fallen from the tree in which it had been hanging onto the ground, where it had then split into two. When whole, it measured 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) long, and was 1.75 m (5.25 ft) in diameter and approximately 5.5 m (18 ft) in circumference. It had probably been constructed by introduced German wasps.
The Daily Mail newspaper says that Britain’s biggest wasp nest was discovered in a pub in Southampton, Hanmpshire, measured a staggering 6ft by 5ft and containing half a million insects. The record-breaking infestation – almost as big as a Smart car – was discovered in the chimney stack of the unnamed pub before being destroyed by pest controller Sean Whelan.
Bruce says: “They really are a credit to the wasps that built them.”
