Summer in the Cairngorms has a sting in the tail

A plague of wasps have hit the strath, with more of the pesky blighters around than in recent years.

Children and adults have been stung as hordes of the yellow and black insects have made more of a nuisance of themselves, building nests and chasing people up the streets and in their back gardens.

The extent of the problem has been noted locally on social network sites.

Big swarms have been seen in Anagach Woods in Grantown and a local man was stung while he was out in his garden.

The man is allergic to the creatures’ stings had to have medical attention, including having his arm put in a sling.

Dr Mike Langran, who works at Aviemore Medical Centre, said: "We have seen a wee blip of folk with wasp stings recently – myself and my kids included!

"Most will settle with conservative measures such as rest, ice and over the counter anti-histamine tablets."

He added: "A few get infected so if there is progressive redness and pain around the sting, or systemic symptoms of infection - temperature, raised pulse, etcetera despite treatment, then consult with the chemist and/or contact a local surgery."

Mr Murdo Macdonald, a Highland zoologist with an interest in wasps, said: "Although there are generally more wasps about at this time of year, there are more about this time than last year and possibly than the year before.

"This year has been a dreadful summer for humans but it doesn’t seem to have hit the wasps. I don’t know why this is.

"Whatever weather you get in the summer some wildlife does well and some doesn’t. It could just be as simple as having a few days of very good weather or bad weather at a crucial time in their life cycles."

He said some wasps’ nests could measure a metre in diameter and contain thousands of the insects.

Recently a Kincraig couple returned home after a short break to find they’d had a change of tenant.

The summer bats they had got so accustomed to in the roof of their conservatory for more than 20 years had simply disappeared and been replaced by a wasps’ nest.

"We couldn’t understand what had happened" said Mrs Betty Pentland, at Moss Cottage.

"There were wasps everywhere in our living area – we counted dozens of them – all of them dead except two, one in its death throes and the other one very much alive.

"We’d never seen anything like it."

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