Tuesday, September 13

Last week we suspected that a badger had entered the garden in the night and dug under one of the compost bins to get at a wasps’ nest that we did not even know existed. We found out when we both got stung the next day.

At the weekend the badger returned and dug a huge hole in a flowerbed to reveal another completely undiscovered wasps’ nest. This time it has left us with an unwanted hole and a load of angry wasps determined to wreak havoc on anyone who comes near them.

I go out to check the mail and decide to see if the wasps have gone anywhere yet. They haven’t. Wearing on a complete hazmat suit I approach gingerly and photograph the hole. If you look carefully you can see a large amount of wasps just hanging around. An even larger amount have already taken off and circle around.

Allegedly the queen has died and these represent the now completely functionless workers whose reaction to their impending doom seems to involve as much widespread mayhem as they can manage.