Known for ruining summer picnics and sending people running away when one comes buzzing, wasps may be seen as annoying, but they are actually incredibly important.
But experts say their numbers have dwindled in 2024, and it isn’t good news.
Colder and wetter weather at the start of the summer season combined with climate change have had a global impact on wasp numbers.
The change has been monitored by gardeners, experts and pest controllers, but what do wasps do, why do we need them and will they return?
Here is everything we know:
Why does there seem to be less wasps this summer?
Experts say that normal tracking of bugs across the year has shown declining numbers.
It told the BBC this was “almost certainly a direct consequence of the wet weather”, winter flooding and general dampness leading to mould growth, impacting the winter survival rate.
A spokesman said: “Many wasp nests are created in the ground and will also have been severely impacted by the further flooding across the country in spring and early summer.
“A loss of wasps will impact us in a number of ways.
“It leads to reduced pollination and, without wasps, our plants are more likely to be eaten by insect larvae otherwise controlled by wasps.”
How have wasp levels changed over time in the UK?
Thomas Ings, an associate professor in zoology specialising in entomology at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, has a long-standing interest in wasps and said this year could be a one-off.
He said the wasp population as a whole tends to fluctuate annually and, although this year was bad for numbers, the return of warmer temperatures for the latter part of July and into August could mean a bumper year for wasps in 2025.
He said: “There has been a decline in insect numbers around the globe and, in the UK, there is evidence of severe declines in some flying insects.
“There is evidence what happens in the year before influences what we get the following year.
“When there are a lot more wasps in one year, you do tend to have slightly fewer wasps in the next.
“It’s probably better to say you can have a bumper year following a bad year, so it could be next year is a better year for wasps, depending on the weather conditions continuing.”
Wasps play a vital ecological role.
They act as predators by eating potential pests, such as greenflies and caterpillars. And it may be why you’ve seen more spiders tjis year.
Their work results in protection for crops and gardens. But wasps are also now increasingly understood to be valuable pollinators, transferring pollen as they visit flowers to drink nectar.
The Natural History Museum said: “Without wasps, the world could be overrun with spiders and insects. Each summer, social wasps in the UK capture an estimated 14 million kilogrammes of insect prey, such as caterpillars and greenfly. Rather than being a pest, these important insects are a gardener’s friend.”