Backyard Eco System

[MarillionFan]

It's very strange though, how do all the ants from all over the garden and lots of different nests all know to fly on the same day?

It's the birds. They tell them. They use twitter.

[Lockhouse]

It's very strange though, how do all the ants from all over the garden and lots of different nests all know to fly on the same day?

[BlasterBates]

flying ants

The others though are great photo opps.

[Lockhouse]

It's been Animal Kingdom week this week at our house.

We've had the day of the flying ants, a fox with cubs in our front garden, a very active wasp's nest removed (£40!!!!), frogs, toads, slugs, deer eating the missus' roses (again), bats, squirrels and woodpeckers.

[BlasterBates]

Sound like mason bees. Really low to the ground, seem to wander aimlessly, leave your jam and scones alone. Go and have a look at your roof. All of a sudden I was like, bloody hell as there was dozens of them, but totally harmless. They're the Suityou bees of the stinging world.

hmm yes that's right, thx for that. No nest, I suspect they live in the tree, so a bit of insecticide just to keep the numbers down.

[MarillionFan]

Could be. They crawl around on the ground a lot, and around leaves on the bushes. Anyway I can wander around kick them brush them and they don't seem to mind. Also they don't want to fly in the house. After wandering around the yard I've come to the conclusion I don't really need to do anything. More of an annoyance like house flies, if I wanted to sit in the yard. So probably best with some fly spray.

Sound like mason bees. Really low to the ground, seem to wander aimlessly, leave your jam and scones alone. Go and have a look at your roof. All of a sudden I was like, bloody hell as there was dozens of them, but totally harmless. They're the Suityou bees of the stinging world.

[BlasterBates]

Are they wasps or bees?

I thought I had an infestation of wasps a while back. There seemed to be loads flying around and over the roof.

Bit concerned I had a wasp's nest in the roof I got in touch with an expert and he told me that they were mason bees. Totally harmless, no queen and small in number.

They look like small wasps.

Mason bee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Could be. They crawl around on the ground a lot, and around leaves on the bushes. Anyway I can wander around kick them brush them and they don't seem to mind. Also they don't want to fly in the house. After wandering around the yard I've come to the conclusion I don't really need to do anything. More of an annoyance like house flies, if I wanted to sit in the yard. So probably best with some fly spray.

[MarillionFan]

There has been less ants round in my apartment recently and some wasps have now invaded the backyard. Now my first thought was [Dalek mode] exterminate, exterminate[/Dalek mode], but as it turns out these wasps are pretty harmless, they don't seem to sting; I'm just wondering whether they're keeping the ants in check. May have to introduce a wasp eating aardvark to keep the wasps down.

Are they wasps or bees?

I thought I had an infestation of wasps a while back. There seemed to be loads flying around and over the roof.

Bit concerned I had a wasp's nest in the roof I got in touch with an expert and he told me that they were mason bees. Totally harmless, no queen and small in number.

They look like small wasps.

Mason bee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sysman]

I had a plague of ants in my kitchen earlier this year, and I think they were finding another route from A to B when next door was being renovated.

On the advice of a mate, I discovered that they really don't like Cillit Bang sprayed all over the place, nor washing powder.

And one morning I had the spectacle of a spider dangling off its web having caught an ant. The victim ant had clearly sent out a panic signal, for his (her?) fellow ants were positively swarming to the rescue, but could do naff all about it save for carrying off half its body that dropped to the deck. They couldn't reach the spider. Nature can be cruel, but it was interesting to watch.

P.S. As the renovation proceeded, the ants cleared off completely. Last seen lurking in the road outside.

[Paddy]

http://www.harveynichols.com/food-wi...shopping_feb11

[BlasterBates]

There has been less ants round in my apartment recently and some wasps have now invaded the backyard. Now my first thought was [Dalek mode] exterminate, exterminate[/Dalek mode], but as it turns out these wasps are pretty harmless, they don't seem to sting; I'm just wondering whether they're keeping the ants in check. May have to introduce a wasp eating aardvark to keep the wasps down.