Wasps Around Your Guttering and Fascias? How to Find the Nest in Hitchin
A nest behind a fascia board can grow for weeks with nothing visible, until the traffic at one small gap becomes impossible to ignore.
A hidden start in spring
Wasp nests behind fascia boards usually begin in the spring. From early April, depending on how mild the weather has been, a queen looks for a sheltered, dry gap. A small opening where the fascia meets the wall, a loose board end or a gap beside the gutter bracket can be just what she wants.
She builds a few small cells, lays eggs and feeds the first grubs. At that point the whole nest is tiny and utterly silent from outside. A householder might see a single wasp coming and going and think nothing of it. Hitchin homes are no different here: the nest is invisible, and the first sign is a few wasps.
The timing varies from year to year. A mild spring can bring queens out earlier, and a cold one delays them, so the stage of the nest in any given week is not predictable. What stays constant is that a nest behind a board is easy to overlook. Taking a look every week or two in spring is a modest habit that pays off.
How it grows
As the first workers emerge, they take over the building. The nest expands outwards into the cavity, and the colony grows week by week. By summer there are many more workers, the entrance sees constant traffic, and the buzz can be heard from inside the house.
The colony peaks in August, when a nest can hold as many as 2,000 wasps. That is a lot of insects behind a plank of wood. At that stage a nest in a fascia cavity is large enough to push against the board, and may even cause a visible bulge or stain on the soffit below.
There is one more feature of nests in a cavity: they can expand into any space available. A fascia that runs the length of a house offers a long, narrow gap, and the nest may spread along it, with the entrance far from the centre of the colony. That is why the hole you see is not always right over the nest.
In a long, narrow void the wasps also have more chance of finding an unintended exit, such as a gap round a pipe or into a soffit vent. That is how wasps end up indoors.
Early signs to look for
The earlier you spot a nest, the simpler the job. Look from the ground, preferably from a distance, for:
- A single entrance hole, often tiny, along the line of a board, a corner or beside a downpipe.
- Wasps landing on the board and crawling in, then reappearing a few moments later.
- Fine, pale shavings on the ground below, or a grey, papery smear around the gap.
- A faint buzzing that gets louder in warm weather.
- Wasps appearing indoors, especially in a bedroom or loft close to that wall.
Many people notice only when they see a wasp pour out as the sun hits the wall in the morning.
A useful test is to watch for ten minutes on a warm day. If you see the same hole used by many wasps coming and going, you almost certainly have a nest. If you see only an occasional wasp land on the board and leave, it may simply be foraging for wood fibre.
Wasps scrape wood to make nest paper, and a pale, scratched patch on weathered timber is a clue. Look for it on the face of the board or on a shed or fence nearby.
Why you should not investigate
The temptation is to tap the board, shine a torch or push something in to see what is behind. Please do none of those. A nest in a cavity amplifies sound and vibration, and disturbed wasps can come out together. Even a gentle knock can provoke a colony that has been quiet for weeks.
You also should not block the hole. Wasps that cannot get out can find another route, and the usual one is into the house. Equally, avoid spraying anything yourself.
If you want to help, take a photograph from a safe distance and note where the wasps are going in. Keep children and pets away from the area, and keep windows nearby shut.
Keep an eye on people as well as insects. Window cleaners, decorators, gardeners and delivery drivers can all work near the nest without knowing it is there. A word of warning to anyone working near the wall is a sensible precaution until it has been treated.
If you have an old nest from a previous year in the same gap, do not assume it is empty or harmless. Treat any nest as live until you have watched the entrance for a couple of days and seen nothing going in or out.
Getting it dealt with
Once you know roughly where the nest is, book a visit. The price is a fixed £70 for the nest, with £30 for an additional nest on the same property, confirmed on the phone before the technician comes. No call-out charge applies. Only difficult access needing special equipment could raise it. To book, ring 07852 111 437 or use the online form at /wasp-nest-booking-form/. Evening and weekend visits are offered. After treatment, wait before repairing the board, and ask the technician at booking whether the empty nest can be taken down. Say if anyone is allergic.
For households in Hitchin that rent, tell the landlord or agent about the nest, and check the tenancy agreement for who deals with building repairs. What applies depends on the agreement, so it is best to read it first.
Wasps on your property in Hitchin?
Fixed price £70 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.