Giant wasp nest forces Norfolk wildlife manager out of office
Eilish Rothney, who manages a nature reserve in Ormesby St Michael, first discovered the nest on 11 June after returning from several weeks conducting surveys on the Trinity Broads
A nature reserve manager with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust has been forced to work from home after a large wasp nest expanded to take over her office, with the conservation charity deciding to leave the insects undisturbed until they complete their natural life cycle.
Eilish Rothney, who manages a nature reserve in Ormesby St Michael, first discovered the nest on 11 June after returning from several weeks conducting surveys on the Trinity Broads, says the BBC.
She said she initially noticed wasps "buzzing round the corner" of her office. At the time, the nest was about a quarter of its current size. It has since grown to around one metre (3.2 feet) long, covering a bookshelf and surrounding several ring binders.
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Rather than remove the nest, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust has opted to allow the colony to remain until autumn, when the worker wasps are expected to die off and newly emerged females leave to hibernate before becoming queens the following spring.
Rothney said she had found the insects' construction process intriguing.
"It was just fascinating to watch the wasps coming and going and building up the lovely layers of colour — it looks like exotic paper," she said.
Describing how the nest spread through the office, she said: "It starts on the floor behind a box I put there, and they've come up on the inside and spread out on the box, and they've gone in all the little crevices around the binders and shelves."
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust also highlighted the unusual office occupant in a social media post, saying: "Thousands of new colleagues moved in without permission, skipped recruitment entirely and ignored the office hot-desking policy."
Rothney said the trust intended to let the wasps complete their natural cycle before reclaiming the office.
"The intention is just to leave it be and eventually they will all leave. The females who emerge will then go off and try and hibernate and come back next spring as queens. All the worker wasps will eventually die off and go hunting for food," she said.
She also encouraged people to remain calm if they encounter wasps.
"I would encourage people, if you've got wasps that are bothering you, just to keep calm and try and move away. If you keep calm, they will sense that and won't feel threatened," she said.
