Every wasp problem in Altrincham runs on the same clock. Whether the nest is in a Bowdon loft or under a Timperley lawn, the colony behind it was founded in spring by a single queen, grew unseen through early summer, turned into a nuisance in August, and will be dead by Halloween. Knowing which phase you are in tells you how urgent the problem is and what it will look like in a fortnight.
Phase one: founding (late April to May)
The season begins with queens, not swarms. Each one wakes from hibernation alone, feeds up on nectar, and spends days inspecting cavities: gaps under roof tiles, dry corners of sheds, abandoned rodent burrows. The oversized, dozy wasp bumbling around a bedroom in spring is one of these house-hunters. Once settled, she builds a starter nest about the size of a walnut and raises the first handful of larvae entirely on her own. Colonies at this stage are tiny, fragile, and easily dealt with, though hardly anyone spots them.
Phase two: build-up (June to July)
When the first workers hatch, the queen retires to full-time egg laying and the nest starts compounding: more workers rear more brood, who become more workers. Through June and July the structure swells from tennis ball to football and beyond. This is when a flight line appears at the eaves, the shed suddenly has residents, or the border by the compost bin develops a hole with traffic. Workers are still out hunting insect prey for the larvae, so they mostly ignore people. Nests treated in this window are straightforward jobs.
Phase three: peak (August into early September)
August flips a switch. The colony reaches its greatest size at the exact moment it stops rearing ordinary brood and turns to producing next year's queens and males. Larvae had been rewarding workers with sweet secretions in exchange for prey; with few larvae left, that private sugar supply shuts down. Thousands of workers go looking for a replacement, and they find it in beer gardens around Goose Green, ice creams at Dunham Massey, fallen apples, jam sandwiches and open bins. Defence of the nest is at its most aggressive in the same window. If wasps are ruining your garden this month, this is why.
Phase four: collapse (late September to November)
Once the new queens and males have flown, the colony has served its purpose. Workers grow sluggish, wander further, and die in growing numbers through October. The nest empties from the inside out and by November sits silent, never to be occupied again. The only survivors of the whole enterprise are the freshly mated queens, each tucked away alone to sleep until spring, when the cycle restarts somewhere new.
Reading the calendar for your own nest
- Spotted in May or June: deal with it now while it is small. Every week of delay grows the colony.
- Spotted in July: a routine treatment, best done before the August surge.
- Spotted in August: book promptly; demand for same-day slots across WA14 and WA15 is at its yearly high, and colonies are at full strength.
- Spotted in late September or October: judgement call. Near people, treat it. In a forgotten corner, nature is weeks from finishing the job free of charge.
- Found in winter: it is a relic. An old nest in the loft can be bagged and binned, or ignored entirely. Our guide on checking whether a nest is active shows how to confirm it is dead.
Whenever in the season you call, the arrangement is the same: £60 for a wasp or hornet nest, £70 for a bumblebee nest in the rare cases one needs treating, no call-out fee, and a free return visit if a treated colony is not finished. Ring 07770 015197 and we will tell you honestly whether your nest needs us or just needs October.
Mid-season nest causing trouble?
£60 fixed, same-day across Altrincham and Trafford where possible, seven days a week.
Call to BookFrequently Asked Questions
The season opens quietly in late April, when queens that spent winter dormant in log piles, soil and quiet corners of sheds wake and go looking for nest sites. For a few weeks the only wasps about are these outsized, slow-moving singletons. Workers in any numbers are a June and July development.
August, comfortably. Colonies hit maximum strength just as their sugar-hunting phase begins, so peak numbers coincide with peak interest in your food and drink. Around Altrincham our call volume in August exceeds every other month of the year, and the pattern repeats every summer.
Less than people assume. Hibernating queens tolerate cold well; the bigger dangers to them are damp, mould and being woken too early by warm spells. A mild, wet winter can do more harm to next season’s wasp numbers than a properly cold one. Spring weather during nest founding matters most of all.
Often yes. Colonies remain big, defensive and increasingly bad-tempered through September as their food runs short. Where a nest sits over a door, beside a patio or in a working garden, waiting six more weeks for natural collapse is a miserable option. A nest well away from people can be left to finish on its own, and we will say which applies when you call.
Two culprits. Newly mated queens come indoors hunting for hibernation spots, favouring lofts, spare rooms and curtain folds. Meanwhile workers from collapsing colonies blunder inside and lack the energy to leave. Neither is up for a fight by that stage; a glass and a piece of card deals with them humanely.