Season review
2026 wasp season review: why we saw a third fewer nests
If you noticed fewer wasps this summer, you weren't imagining it. Here's what we saw across Hertfordshire and North London in 2026, and the weather behind it.
By the Wasp Nest Removal Hertfordshire team · · 4 min read
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The short version
- We treated roughly 30% fewer nests than in a typical year, and about half as many as in a very busy 2025. Other pest controllers across the UK reported the same.
- The likely cause is a cold spell in mid-May, just when queens are building their first nests on their own.
- Far fewer homes had more than one nest this year.
- A warm September and October then stretched the season: we were still treating nests in the last week of October.
In this article
Every season is different, but 2026 stood out. Across Hertfordshire and North London we treated roughly 30% fewer wasp nests than in a typical year, and about half as many as in 2025, which was an unusually busy summer. Talking to other pest controllers around the country, it wasn't just us: the drop was UK-wide.
Then, just as the season should have been winding down, it kept going. Last year our equipment was packed away by the start of October. This year we were still treating nests in the last week of the month.
What happened in spring
Every wasp nest is started by one queen. She wakes from hibernation in spring, finds a sheltered spot such as a loft, a soffit or a gap under the roof tiles, and builds the first small nest entirely on her own. Until her first workers hatch several weeks later, she does all the building and all the foraging herself. That makes this the most fragile point in a colony's life. If she dies or gives up, there is no nest.
This spring started warm and dry, which brought queens out and got them building. Then, in mid-May, northerly winds brought a run of cold, showery weather, and the Met Office warned of frost in rural areas well into the south of England. A queen can't forage in that kind of weather, and many seem not to have made it.
Wasp researchers suspected the same thing. In September, Professor Seirian Sumner of University College London wrote that cold, damp days and chilly nights after a warm spring "may have caused queens to abandon their nests or die". She also noted that pest controllers were reporting few nest call-outs, which matches what we saw.
How often does this happen?
In our experience, a frost or cold snap late in spring that knocks back the queens comes round roughly once every four years. It's one of the main reasons wasp numbers swing so much from one summer to the next.
Fewer homes with more than one nest
The clearest change on the ground was how few properties had more than one nest. In a busy year it's common to find two or three on the same house, say one in the loft and another behind a soffit, or one in the garden shed as well. This year that was unusual.
That fits with fewer queens surviving the spring. When plenty of queens make it, more of them end up choosing the same sheltered spots around a house. When fewer make it, most homes that do get a nest get just the one.
Why the season ran so late
Wasp colonies usually start to break down from mid-to-late September, and most are finished by the end of October. This year the autumn warmth gave them extra time.
| Period | What the weather did |
|---|---|
| Mid-May 2026 | Cool northerly winds with heavy showers, and a risk of frost in rural parts of southern England. |
| September 2026 | Warm everywhere. South-east and central southern England averaged 2.4°C above normal, and Hertfordshire was one of the counties where the average daily maximum topped 22°C. |
| Early October 2026 | Temperatures reached the low 20s, against an October average daily maximum of 13.1°C. |
Wasps stay active while it's warm and there's food about, so the colonies that had got going kept foraging well into October. That's why some people were still seeing wasps around their roofs and gardens weeks after they'd normally have gone quiet.
What it means for you now
- A nest that's still busy, with a steady line of wasps going in and out, is still a live colony. If it's near a door, a window or somewhere children play, it's worth calling us.
- A nest that's gone quiet is very likely finished. Our guide to when wasps die off explains how to tell, and when we'll honestly tell you not to pay for treatment.
- An empty nest in the loft won't be used again. Wasps always build a new nest each year, as our wasp life cycle guide explains.
- Gaps where wasps were getting in are worth sealing over winter, once you're sure the nest is dead, to give next year's queens one less place to start.
What we're telling customers
Don't read too much into a quiet year. Next summer depends on how many new queens survive the winter and on the weather next spring, and nobody can predict that yet. If you see a large wasp checking out your eaves in April or May, that's a queen looking for a nest site, and the best time to deal with it is early, while the nest is still small.
Looking ahead to 2027
We'll post again in spring once the first queens are about, with what we're seeing across St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead and the rest of the county. If you've got a late nest that's still active, or you're not sure whether an old one needs dealing with, give us a call. Most questions can be answered on the phone.
Questions we get asked
Why were there fewer wasps in 2026?+
Does a quiet year mean next year will be quiet too?+
Are wasps still active in late October?+
Should I remove an old nest from my loft?+
What can I do now to reduce the chance of a nest next year?+
Related guides
- When do wasps die off? – How colonies wind down through autumn, and when a late nest isn't worth treating.
- The wasp life cycle – From a single spring queen to an autumn colony of thousands.
- Prevention guide – What you can do over winter to reduce the chance of a nest next year.
Local to you
Wasp nest removal near you
Sources
- Met Office – 10-day trend: Will the cold May continue? (13 May 2026)
- ScienceDaily / The Conversation – Wasps are disappearing this summer, and scientists are worried (Prof Seirian Sumner, UCL, 11 September 2026)
- Met Office – September 2026 weather stats: a breakdown by county
- Met Office – September 2026 weather stats: a regional breakdown
- LADbible – Why October has felt so warm in the UK, with comment from the Met Office (7 October 2026)