
Win against the wasps! There are more than ever, so here world-leading experts reveal what really works against them - from a trick with tights to the sure-fire way to make them leave your picnic alone
Professor Seirian Sumner, Professor of Behavioural Ecology at University College, London, and author of Endless Forms: The Secret World Of Wasps, says: 'That double combination of the spring weather being perfect for wasps and the summer being good for insects in general with lots of prey around for the wasps means it's a really good wasp year.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Archaeologists from London help catalogue ancient Jersey finds
Archaeologists from London are visiting Jersey to help catalogue and store hundreds of ice age animal bone from an ancient site. Jersey Heritage said while the items, found before 1960 at La Cotte de St Brelade, had been subjected to detailed work, the early finds were yet to be studied using modern scientific techniques. It said visitors could meet the team from the University College London (UCL) Institute of Archaeology for a free "Meet the Collections" event on Saturday at Sir Francis Cook Gallery. The finds, which are part of a Société Jersiaise collection, include a fragment of woolly mammoth bone and lots of pieces of horse, red deer, bison, and bear bones, said Jersey Heritage. It added the UCL team was interested in the remains of animals that may have been hunted by some of the last surviving Neanderthal groups in the Heritage said: "There is no reason why some of these fragments of bone might not be from the Neanderthal people themselves." Curator of archaeology at Jersey Heritage, Olga Finch, said: "It's great to have the expertise of the London team to undertake this curatorial work and provide a detailed catalogue, which the public and researchers can access to learn more about this important story in the Island's history."Dr Matt Pope from UCL said it was exciting to be involved in the "important process"."This is one of the most important collections of Ice Age animal bone in the region and we are getting every ready to unlock its secrets," he added.


The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Young country diary: We are the Nature Goddesses, welcome to our wildlife club!
We have been trying to save nature in different ways. At home we have been planting seeds and picking up litter. At school we have started a new nature club. It's called the Nature Goddesses. We go into the bushes and teach the other children about different creatures and plants, with the adults helping too. Every time a new child comes, it's like another new beautiful plant has been saved! We learn about the spectacular gifts of Mother Nature. Any time we see any plants on our wide and majestic field or in the nature area, we explore them and learn about them. Things we have found at our nature club: garden tiger moth, common blue butterfly, a shield bug, snails, garden spiders, caterpillars, ladybirds and dragonflies, and last but not least four bumblebees. While we investigate these gifts, our minds fill with wonder! Questions float in the air yet to be answered. Rosalind's most interesting fact from Nature Goddesses is that spiders are not actually insects, because insects have six legs and tend to have wings, antennae and three body sections, while spiders have two body parts, eight eyes (usually), no wings or antennae, and eight legs. Beatrix's favourite thing is the age that some trees can reach. Just a few miles away is a tree called the Bowthorpe Oak, supposed to be about 1,000 years old. It's amazing to think of all the different people who have touched the tree throughout history. We explore these treasures on hot, sunny days when the wind is softer than cotton and cooler than ice and the birdsong is gentle and magical. Secrets still lie while the rest is eight, and Beatrix, eight Read today's other YCD, by Flynn, 10: 'A still moment with a stag beetle' The Young Country Diary submission form is now closed for the summer, but keep the link handy, it will reopen on October 1 for autumn articles


BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Rare Angel shark filmed in Cardigan Bay on underwater camera
One of the world's rarest sharks has been caught on camera in Cardigan Bay for the first time in four Perry, a marine conservation and research manager with the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said she was "thrilled" by the "rare and exciting encounter" with the angel shark which lives and hunts on the endangered, the species was filmed on an underwater camera being used to study a group of bottlenose dolphins that make their home off the Welsh angel shark was common across the east Atlantic and Mediterranean seas but has declined because of a number of threats, including habitat disturbance and accidental fishing catch. A juvenile angel shark was caught on camera in September 2021 in Cardigan Perry said the latest sighting "comes at a crucial time, as the Senedd and UK government discuss a ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas". "These findings highlight the urgent need to protect these fragile habitats from damaging activities like bottom trawling," she sharks, known as a "flat shark", spends much of the time camouflaged in the sediments on the seabed, where they lie in wait for 2019, experts said sightings suggested Wales could be a key habitat for the angel shark which has had a stronghold around the Canary Islands.