PAPER WASP NEST SAVED

PAPER WASP NEST...

IN A NEIGHBOR'S  APPLE TREE

Saturday, 8:45 AM. 60 degrees F at the ferry dock, 58 on the back porch.  Wind SSW, mostly calm with light to moderate gusts.  The sky is overcast and cloudy after delivering .8" of rain earlier this morning.  The humidity is still 93%.  The high today is forecast to be in the mid seventies, then cooler for  the next few days, with partly cloudy skies and chances of rain again by Tuesday and Wednesday.
   I was working in the yard yesterday when the young Coast Guardian who lives with his family next door came over and warned me of a large wasp nest in an adjacent yard that he has been caring for. We went over to look at it, and he announced he was going to spray it to kill the wasps.  I told him the wasps would be gone and the paper nest empty after the first hard frost, the wasps dead of old age or frozen, except for the queen, which would overwinter elsewhere and start a new colony next spring.
  He was quite fascinated with my accounts of using faux wasp nests to discourage wasps and hornets (which are territorial creatures) from frequenting our porch and patio, and he agreed to leave nature take its course with these beneficial insects.  If he doesn't claim the empty nest I will be happy to do so, and hang it in my library. It is about the size of a soccer ball and in perfect condition.
   A paper wasp nest is incredible, not only for its natural history, but from an artistic standpoint as well, as the abstract patterns produced on the surface of the nest during the making of the paper are quite beautiful.  Such nests are usually too high in trees or on building gables to obtain, but this one is reachable with a pole pruners.