Live and let die

My house is a no-kill zone for fauna…and they know it. As much as I try to prevent them from entering, I share the space with the odd gecko or two, spiders of all kinds, flies, even mosquitoes. They are free to exist on a live and let live basis. However….

It has been a cold winter and the stockpile of wood stacked up against the outside wall is ever decreasing. I have discovered that a range of fauna inhabit this temporary haven – cockroaches, silverfish, beetles and unfortunately many queen European Wasps (Vespula germanica), pictured.

European Wasps (Vespula germanica) are a highly invasive wasp species known to drive native insect species out of an area and create havoc with outdoor human activities over the summer period. In their native Europe and the Middle East populations of European Wasps are controlled by the climate with very cold weather killing many nests. However in the more temperate Australia, nests survive the winter and continue to grow. Many of the new queens find places to hibernate over the winter i.e. my woodpile, only to become active when the weather warms up. A single queen can lay up to 10,000 eggs in a season and this has forced an amendment to my live and let live policy.

For European Wasp it is live and let die.