UK's Biggest Wasps' Nest Found In Pub Roof

10:45am UK, Tuesday August 03, 2010

Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

A pub in Southampton has laid claim to housing the biggest wasps' nest in Britain.

The stinging insects had built a home 5ft 3in wide, with the cone height from top to bottom of 4ft 1in.

"It really was a monster," said pest controller Sean Whelan, the unlucky man who was called in to deal with a construction that housed about half a million wasps.

"Nests usually operate from March to September so they're very unlikely to get to be this size," Mr Whelan told Sky News Online.

"The wasps disperse and bury themselves under about six inches of soil until March when they come out and then build the nest for the queen.

"What we think may have happened this time is that, because of the cold winter, the pub kept its heating on so the wasps didn't realise it was time to move on.

"The size of it for the time of year was unprecedented. They just couldn't have made something this big, this quickly."

Mr Whelan used a telescopic pole to crack open the top of the nest and then squirt the colony with a powerful insecticide.

"It was scary as hell but it is what I am trained for," he said.

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