Can Anyone Identify This?

[cazzz1975]

I have found this 'shell' type structure stuck to the roof of the shed, does anyone know what insect may have used it?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1zhsae&;s=5
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2w7powj&s=5
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=f6w3o&s=5

[sara3]

hey cazzz :o)

I have a few of these in the same place.. I assumed they are little wasp nests

[snags]

I'd go with a wasp nest too.

[cazzz1975]

URGH!! thats it im burning down the shed :(

[woofgang]

yup its a wasp nest. The queen wasp begins to build and lays the first lot of eggs, workers take over and grow the nest.
http://www.hampshire-waspcontrol.co.uk/wasp-nest.html

Please don't panic. The link I have posted is pest extermination firm and its in their interests to make you want to call them out to kill the blighters.

[sara3]

there are 3, I think, inside my shed but they're just empty shells now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuGfawY21aw

[cazzz1975]

it looks like an empty shell, does this mean its 'under construction' or has is been abandoned?

[sara3]

no idea.. but I've assumed abandoned/used and crumbled with mine. I find them every year, and they are very papery and fragile

[cazzz1975]

I feel violated..

[woofgang]

I think (although the websites don't say) that a queen wasp might come out of hibernation and start to build then either die because the weather has been so terrible, or find that the spot that she "thought" (do wasps think?) was a nice quiet one is in fact a busy one due to gardeners coming out of hibernation too. I often find part built nests in and around my sheds and garage, but very rarely see a completed nest. The advice from the website is to keep an eye on it to see if it continues to be built or not. If I found one at that stage somewhere that I need to be or need the wasps not to be, then i would remove it and hope that the wasp finds a better place to build.

[RATTER15]

Definitely a wasp nest in the making, probably old and deserted now. just remove it.

[cazzz1975]

Thank you guys, I have binned it and had a check around. :)

[mccfluff]

love that you feel violated :-)

[snags]

The nests in your shed are probably overflow from the fridge sized 'mother ship' in your loft...

[Zeuhl]

They are truly beautiful things when you examine them

great engineering and a 'work of art'

[cecil39]

Its a wasp nest, get rid of it, they build on each year untill you have a waste paper basket sized one, I have had one in my loft and was told it was several years old, I won't let it happen again.

[carrust]

cecil. Who told you that? Sociable wasps build a fresh nest each year, as do all wasps.

[jomifl]

Oh my god, it's 'alien' all over again, supposing it 'pops' ..:-)

[Answerprancer]

Yep, definitely a wasp's bike.

[boxtops]

definitely a wasps' nest - they are exquisite structures.

[cecil39]

carrust, it was a wasp nest as my Dad broke it open an said there were still some wasps in it, I don't know anything about wasps life cycle but the next year a new little nest appeared in the same place.