Teh One Who Knocks
08-28-2014, 11:11 AM
By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline
http://i.imgur.com/kaX8NSM.jpg
A son went into a rarely-used bedroom in his mother's home and discovered thousands of wasps had made a giant nest in a bed.
An estimated 5,000 wasps had created a nest by chewing through bedding, including a blanket and pillow.
Pest-control expert John Birkett was called to tackle with the mound of wasps inside the mattress at the five-bedroom home in Winchester, Hampshire.
He said: 'In 45 years I have never seen anything like it. There must have been 5,000 wasps.
'It was a job to deal with it. I had to put all my protective gear on.
'At one stage there must have been 2,000 wasps buzzing around me.
'If someone had gone in to the room and not known what it was it would have been pretty serious.'
He added: 'They must have started making the nest at the start of May. It's amazing that the woman didn't realise she was living with them.
'We got a call as we normally do, but I thought that it was unusual it was a bedroom.
'I opened the door and I just couldn't believe it.
'The pillow was covered in this three foot wasp nest and they were still busy building the nest.
'I tried to destroy as many as I could with the workers flying around the room.
'The nest came in half so the room was completely full of wasps. I was covered in them. The home-owner was terrified.'
Mr Birkett, who runs Longwood Services exterminators, used chemical spray to kill the insects during the two-hour operation.
He said the previous biggest nest he had ever found in a bedroom was about the size of a tennis ball.
The woman, who did not want to be named, lives alone in the five-bedroom house in the St Cross area of the town.
She had not been in the spare room for several months and it was only when her son opened the door that the massive nest was discovered.
http://i.imgur.com/tpF0AzJ.png
Hornet wasp colonies reach their peak population in late summer and can contain 700 large, angry insects. Wasp nests are even bigger and can contain up to 10,000 insects.
The creatures can mobilise the entire nest to sting in defence of an attack. Around three in 100 people suffer severe reactions to a wasp or hornet sting.
Last month, a family were forced to flee Porthmeor beach in St Ives, Cornwall when an estimated 10,000-strong swarm of bees descended on their small sun tent and massed inside.
Lifeguards cordoned off the area and called in a bee-keeper to collect the insects.
Elsewhere, a shopper in Central London was surrounded by a swarm of around 5,000 bees earlier this Summer.
The insects descended on a branch of Topshop, which sent the passers-by scrambling for cover.
Witnesses said they could ‘hardly see the sky’ as the colony made a nest on the bustling high street.
Three days later, in Cambridge, thousands of the insects settled on the figure of Talos in the centre of the city.
Two police officers were sent to keep people away and a nearby restaurant closed its doors and windows as a precaution.
http://i.imgur.com/lMPofTE.png
http://i.imgur.com/kaX8NSM.jpg
A son went into a rarely-used bedroom in his mother's home and discovered thousands of wasps had made a giant nest in a bed.
An estimated 5,000 wasps had created a nest by chewing through bedding, including a blanket and pillow.
Pest-control expert John Birkett was called to tackle with the mound of wasps inside the mattress at the five-bedroom home in Winchester, Hampshire.
He said: 'In 45 years I have never seen anything like it. There must have been 5,000 wasps.
'It was a job to deal with it. I had to put all my protective gear on.
'At one stage there must have been 2,000 wasps buzzing around me.
'If someone had gone in to the room and not known what it was it would have been pretty serious.'
He added: 'They must have started making the nest at the start of May. It's amazing that the woman didn't realise she was living with them.
'We got a call as we normally do, but I thought that it was unusual it was a bedroom.
'I opened the door and I just couldn't believe it.
'The pillow was covered in this three foot wasp nest and they were still busy building the nest.
'I tried to destroy as many as I could with the workers flying around the room.
'The nest came in half so the room was completely full of wasps. I was covered in them. The home-owner was terrified.'
Mr Birkett, who runs Longwood Services exterminators, used chemical spray to kill the insects during the two-hour operation.
He said the previous biggest nest he had ever found in a bedroom was about the size of a tennis ball.
The woman, who did not want to be named, lives alone in the five-bedroom house in the St Cross area of the town.
She had not been in the spare room for several months and it was only when her son opened the door that the massive nest was discovered.
http://i.imgur.com/tpF0AzJ.png
Hornet wasp colonies reach their peak population in late summer and can contain 700 large, angry insects. Wasp nests are even bigger and can contain up to 10,000 insects.
The creatures can mobilise the entire nest to sting in defence of an attack. Around three in 100 people suffer severe reactions to a wasp or hornet sting.
Last month, a family were forced to flee Porthmeor beach in St Ives, Cornwall when an estimated 10,000-strong swarm of bees descended on their small sun tent and massed inside.
Lifeguards cordoned off the area and called in a bee-keeper to collect the insects.
Elsewhere, a shopper in Central London was surrounded by a swarm of around 5,000 bees earlier this Summer.
The insects descended on a branch of Topshop, which sent the passers-by scrambling for cover.
Witnesses said they could ‘hardly see the sky’ as the colony made a nest on the bustling high street.
Three days later, in Cambridge, thousands of the insects settled on the figure of Talos in the centre of the city.
Two police officers were sent to keep people away and a nearby restaurant closed its doors and windows as a precaution.
http://i.imgur.com/lMPofTE.png