Joe Blair

"Once the new sexual generation of males and queens have emerged, all the other wasps die off and the nest will never be used again; so it is always safe to remove an old one and dissect it. Unless, of course, you happen to live in New Zealand, where the European wasps, accidentally transported to the southern hemisphere many years ago, are confused by the lack of clear seasons. Instead of stopping for winter, they continue colony-building for two, three or perhaps even more years, creating huge nests the size of saloon cars with scores of thousands of workers. Let's hope global warming doesn't encourage them to act like that here." - Joe Blair