Enormous wasps' nest covers bed in UK woman's spare bedroom
A gigantic nest made by 5000 wasps was the last thing a man expected to find on a bed in a rarely-used spare bedroom in his mother's home.
In order to make their nearly one-metre wide by about 45-centimetre nest over up to three months, the insects chewed through the single bed's mattress and pillows.
The woman, who lives in the Winchester home alone, had not been in the spare bedroom during this time.
When her son stumbled upon the nest, she realised a window had been open the entire period, reported The Guardian.
John Birkett, a pest controller of Longwood Services, said the two-hour removal was one of the biggest jobs of his career.
"We got a call as we normally do ... but a bedroom – I thought that was unusual," he said.
"I opened the door and I just couldn't believe it. The pillow was covered in this one-metre wasps' nest and the workers were still busy building the nest.
"In 45 years I have never seen anything like it. There must have been 5000 wasps. It's amazing that the woman didn't realise she was living with them."
In order to destroy the nest, Mr Birkett said he got dressed up "like a spaceman" and that there were up to 700 queen wasps in the nest.
Clearing the area using a toxic spray, Mr Birkett even managed to save the woman's beloved crocheted blanket on the bed.
Yet despite successfully removing the nest, the pest controller said he was saddened that so many wasps were killed.
"It was a work of art and they had worked so hard, but she (the woman) looked at it and said, 'No, no, no – you've got to get rid of it.' If they did that in three-and-a-half months, that's amazing, isn't it? They're just little things."
However, Mr Birskett told the BBC that it would have been "extremely dangerous" for the woman to try and remove the massive nest herself.
"The nest split in two and I have never seen so many wasps,' he said.
"I had to go in to the room and close the door, otherwise the house would have been filled."
During his career, Mr Birkett said the only other wasps' nest he has found in a room was as big as a tennis ball.
(Photo via Yahoo7)
