Wasps don’t have barbed stingers like bees – this means they can sting you more than once and there is no ‘stinger’ to remove. When a wasp stings you the venom is alkali so you can try southing the area by applying a mild acidic solution, such as vinegar.

Bee Wary ...
If you kill a wasp it will release a warning pheromone from its body which alerts all the rest of its waspy friends that there is a potential danger – so you could well be set upon by a whole colony of wasps as a result. At this time of year the number of wasps in a colony is at its highest – there can be as many of 10,000 wasps occupying just one nest.

How To Avoid Being Stung ...
If you are surrounded by a swarm of wasps you should move out of their way slowly – don’t try waving them away as fast movements will make them more aggressive and more likely to sting you. And you should never try to remove a wasps nest yourself – if you do disturb them they will attack so always call in professional pest controllers is you do find a nest in your garden.

Other things you can do to avoid being stung include wearing light coloured, long sleeved shirts, long trousers, socks etc – so there is less bare flesh available to sting – although when it’s hot this can be abit of a tall order! Avoid wearing strong perfume if you’re going to be spending a lot of time outdoors – smells as well as bright colours will attract wasps.

What Can and Has Happened ...
After a wasp nest was disturbed near Merlins Bridge, Haverfordwest in Wales, they attacked a 64 year old gentlemen and he suffered a severe allergic reaction to the wasp venom. Although he managed to get back to his car emergency services found him dead when they arrived. This attack happened in the last week in July – ‘wasp week’.

In another case, a man was hospitalised after he was stung more than 200 times by wasps. He was attached after he fell onto a wasp nest – the wasps swarmed around him and stung him in excess of 200 times.