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wasps are more than pests tribune august 17 1988 to by art briggsjude one of the more noticable at tractions of our neighboring woodlands is the large grey nest of the wasp family j though its much easier to spot jin the leafless woods of winter its large size and usual placement along the forest edge makes it visible at all seasons some years these bigasfootball nests seem to be found in every large woodlot while in others they are much less common oldtimers often remarked that the distance these structures were fastened above the ground gave a clue to the depth of snow- expected for the upcoming winter lets hope this is just an old wives tale because any nests ive noticed this year are up in the trees in the neighborhood of 20 feet by far the greatest majority of these oblong fixtures were fashioned by vespa maculata commonly called the baldfaced hornet these chunky black hornets with the familiar white faces along with the equally testy tiger- striped yellow jackets were ac tually the first paper makers long before the ancient egyp tians were fabricating a rough web of papyrus fibers from the nearby river rushes these in sects refined the process their formula was quite basic collect and chew up bits of wood that when mixed with the insects saliva produced a coarse paper pulp the resultant material with which they build their nests is surprisingly similar to some cheaper packing material used in industry today the art of papermaking however was only one of the discoveries that can be attributed to this family of industrious in sects their design and construc tion of the hexagonalshaped cell for example allowed the max imum use of a limited space thus their food and brood chambers like those of the honey bee can be enclosed in a much smaller structure than if they had used any other individual cell shape whenever we come in close contact with one of these large grey wasp nests a slight feeling of apprehension comes over us maybe its triggered by some longpast event or fostered by some oftrepeated tale while in winter there is no chance of hostility the colony is dead at this time of year it is wise to look and leave the first time i remember hav ing a close encounter with such a nest was when i moved up a long fruit ladder into the upper bran ches of an old plum tree something akin to the sharp tine of a hay fork struck me on the side of the neck and i dropped off the ladder like id been shot even at that fast exit another member of the angry horde rais ed an additional welt on my hand before i cleared the area on another occasion big john skjeberdis a lithuanian hired man inadvertantly spiked a paper nest of yellow jackets as we picked up some mounds of loose hay with the horse and dray i finally got the horse stopped one field later but john carried on well into the next pasture before stopping but basically the various members of the wasp and hornet family are highly beneficial they devour tremendous amounts of harmful flies industrious wasps put their own finish on this bluebirds house near devil lake in eastern ontario wasps carry out many tasks during their summerlong existence some of which are beneficial to man they were also the first species to perfect the art of papermaking art briggsjude grasshoppers and caterpillars including the pupae of the bird nest screw worm fly that sucks the blood from nestling bluebirds they are also very important pollinators of various plants and trees in fact some field crops such as red clover could not reproduce if it were not for the next saturday august 20th 230 315 pm the furniture mall woodbine location get a free autographed picture of vanna beautiful star of wheel of fortune presence of wasps and the large bumble bees during flowering season last week ontario wasps add ed another chapter to their long list of achievements by becoming exterior designers a bluebird house near devil lake has been refinished with their patented grey tone siding having had some limited ex perience with bluebird nestbox construction i would like to say it looks natural dont worry about having an open house however because the occupants are sure to get riled easily the red barn theatre season sponsored by superior propane open sat aug 13th the unexpected guest r agatha christie continuing tues sat to sept 2nd 830 pm imf fmmrms mml hwy 7 and woodbine 6400 woodbine avenue marwiam 4750705 monday to friday 930 930 saturday 900 600 jb dixie road and dundas 1425 dundas street east mluluaugo 4251050 monday to friday 930 930 saturday 900 600 ptfcot do nol tnctuoo delivery and iruta nation wee guarantee doe not apply to previous purchase jacksont point lake simcoe 416 7223249 mondays free easy august 15 22 29 830 pm vi price matinees wed 2 pm fnwf oven heat or microwave iveal am suisse ham cheese gji 8 v 8555 mccowan rd markham lb north of hwy 7 near the btway stote 4715260 t hbwus uotyieo- sb jnvrsfis s3m 5 94 suv m 5 glen cameron rd thohnhill behiri fled lobster beside vakii 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