Bees vs Wasps

[Wolfie]

Apparently wasps are not evil little barstewards...

A new study reveals that wasps are largely disliked by the public, whereas bees are highly appreciated.

The researchers involved say that this view is unfair because wasps are just as ecologically useful as bees.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45566304

 

Some of the comments are quite funny. Eg:

Wasps are like chavs, they have a sip of cider or beer and then think they’re ten men and start giving it all that in front of their mates, bees simply have a sip of nectar, buzz past you, doff their cap and wish you a good afternoon

and...

Wasps are dangerous... My wife nearly died when one landed on her face... Luckily I was nearby and armed with a spade...

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

I saw somebody pick a wasp up in there hand last year .  Apparently only the females sting, although I'm not to sure how you would establish this quickly when ones hanging around your head. Wasps are awful this time of year, they get drunk on fruit and do that hovering side to side thing in front of you, deciding if your going to be the victim of the day .   Bees are fine .

[Parsnip]

Damn. All summer I've been counting my kills. I've pridededed myself on my fearlessness and efficiency of swat. I'd never do that to a bee and now i feel guilty for having done it to so many thousands of wasps this summer.

#jesuiswasp

[Bwash_Ram]

Wasps are all c--ts and all need to die.

[McRainy]

I prefer wasps to any other flying insect. 

[1of4]

I know we are playing the Bees on Saturday at football. Don't the Wasps play rugby? Could prove to be an interesting game between them.

[Angry Ram]

I hate the both of em.. Do a runner every time ones comes near me.. 

Wipe em out, all of them.

[Parsnip]

2 hours ago, Lambchop said:

I prefer wasps to any other flying insect. 

What about daddy long legs?

[McRainy]

27 minutes ago, Parsnip said:

What about daddy long legs?

They fly in your face and are far harder to deal with. They also creep me out slightly. 

You know where you are with a wasp. 

[Archied]

3 hours ago, 1of4 said:

I know we are playing the Bees on Saturday at football. Don't the Wasps play rugby? Could prove to be an interesting game between them.

Yea but do wasps rugby club have a b team?

[TigerTedd]

Wasps are ducking evil. 

Theres a type of wasp that stings a big caterpillar to paralyse it, then lays its eggs inside the caterpillar, then the wasp larva hatched and eats the caterpillar from the inside out, while it’s still alive. 

Pure evil. Kill them all. 

[Carl Sagan]

We've known for a while that bees can count to four, but they have also recently been shown to understand the concept of zero, something that didn't enter European mathematics until Fibonacci in 1202 (there is no zero in Roman numerals). It's a win for the bees in my book.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/bees-understand-concept-zero

 

[Sith Happens]

3 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

We've known for a while that bees can count to four, but they have also recently been shown to understand the concept of zero, something that didn't enter European mathematics until Fibonacci in 1202 (there is no zero in Roman numerals). It's a win for the bees in my book.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/bees-understand-concept-zero

 

So what you are saying is that bees have higher iq's than some of the derby fans who went to Rotherham??? 

[Highgate]

33 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

Wasps are ducking evil. 

Theres a type of wasp that stings a big caterpillar to paralyse it, then lays its eggs inside the caterpillar, then the wasp larva hatched and eats the caterpillar from the inside out, while it’s still alive. 

Pure evil. Kill them all. 

That's the Ichneumon wasp and yeah they have a grisly life cycle no doubt. It's a bit harsh to blame the plain old paper wasp for that behaviour though. 

Not only are our familiar wasps good pollinators but they also control pest species. So much so, in fact, that it's getting popular for gardeners in the US to put up nest boxes for them in their gardens. 

[NorfolkRam]

2 hours ago, Highgate said:

That's the Ichneumon wasp and yeah they have a grisly life cycle no doubt. It's a bit harsh to blame the plain old paper wasp for that behaviour though. 

Not only are our familiar wasps good pollinators but they also control pest species. So much so, in fact, that it's getting popular for gardeners in the US to put up nest boxes for them in their gardens. 

They're also right arses that deserve the sole of an old shoe on their heads at great force.. 

[RamNut]

Wasps are a brilliant piece of design. The formula 1 of flying bstrd things. 

And bees are great fellas. Especially bumble bees. Like a cross between a wasp and a teddy bear.

good stuff. Keep it up lads. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

5 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Wasps are ducking evil. 

Theres a type of wasp that stings a big caterpillar to paralyse it, then lays its eggs inside the caterpillar, then the wasp larva hatched and eats the caterpillar from the inside out, while it’s still alive. 

Pure evil. Kill them all. 

A couple of years a mate told me about a particular type of toadstool/mushroom fungus that infects an ants brain and tells it to carry it to a type of tree that it likes to allow easier growth.  The ant doesn't know this however and believes it is choosing the tree independently.  Eventually the fungus destroys the ant's brain and it dies.   I was quite horrified when I heard this, as can only assume a similar thing is happening in Nottingham with people heading to the pit of misery that is the City ground on a Saturday.  Do we try and find an antidote or leave them too it for risk of infecting ourselves.

[Wolfie]

11 hours ago, Highgate said:

 it's getting popular for gardeners in the US to put up nest boxes for them in their gardens. 

I would have thought they'd prefer to blow the aphids away with a semi-automatic.

[BaaLocks]

12 hours ago, Highgate said:

That's the Ichneumon wasp and yeah they have a grisly life cycle no doubt. It's a bit harsh to blame the plain old paper wasp for that behaviour though. 

Not only are our familiar wasps good pollinators but they also control pest species. So much so, in fact, that it's getting popular for gardeners in the US to put up nest boxes for them in their gardens. 

And then you have the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, which does the same thing to spiders and apparently has a sting that is a bit like being injected with a hot needle (there is actually a bloke who lets himself be stung by all sorts of insects and he said that was the mother of all stingies - you can see it happen here, apologies for the link being from the Daily Fail - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3850900/The-intense-pain-ve-felt-Animal-expert-lets-stung-PARALYSED-wasp-second-excruciating-sting-world.html)

BTW - we seem to have got all through this discussion without mentioning hornets. They are basically like wasps on steroids and while they are a bit like that big bloke down the pub who doesn't make trouble coz he knows he doesn't need to there is an Asian version that is invading the UK. That bad boy just hovers outside bees nests and kills them as they leave - it can decimate a hive pretty much single handedly. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fears-for-uk-bee-colonies-after-asian-hornet-seen-in-cornwall-50zv8w5m2

[Brammie Steve]

13 hours ago, Lambchop said:

I'm not scared of wasps; a vigorous swipe with a flip flop is usually enough to discourage them. 

Flies, mossies and moths are far more persistent and annoying. 

Mossies are fantastic! So say I and my bruv Mozza!

As for wasps........ just disturb a nest like I did last month! ?

Love bees though.