Empty Nest

A colony of Dolichovespula norwegica, Norwegian wasps, set up home in the hen house this summer, and built a beautiful nest.  They apparently use paper to construct these, and as the hens are bedded on shredded paper and the floor of the house is lined with newspaper, they chose a good site! 

It seems one of their favourite foods is nectar from snowberries, which is handy, as the hen run was right next to a hedge of it!    Wise wasps!

When we first found the nest we were told they weren't an aggressive species, would leave or die before winter, and nests were never reused so we just left them be.  The hens and the wasps seemed to co-exist quite happily and they never bothered me when I was cleaning the house.  If you are going to have wasps, thems the ones to have!

Now the nest is empty, except for a few dozy ones.  Before we moved the hens and their house down the road, see yesterday's blip, I cut the nest down, and now you can see what an amazing work of art it is.  

btw It's about 6"/15cm diameter