Drunken wasp?  by tinley23

Drunken wasp?

Advice please - for the last few days I’ve noticed a large number of wasps (and flies) resting on the leaves of our ginkgo tree. They all appear to be disoriented and a bit wobbly. On the other side of the fence is our neighbour’s Victoria plum tree, with lots of ripe fruit on it and on the ground, on our side too. Is it possible for insects to become tiddly from too much over-ripe fruit?
I think they are drunk on over ripe fruit that’s has some alcoholic content….clever wasps! 🤣🤣
August 15th, 2022  
I would think so. Did you ever see something years ago,(can’t remember if it was a film or documentary) where the animals eat over ripe fruit & all end up inebriated ?
August 15th, 2022  
A super close-up of this wasp ! was he too drunk to notice you !!
August 15th, 2022  
Fabulous close up. Yes definitely drunk and possibly disorderly.
August 15th, 2022  
Great shot and yes, wasps can become inebriated mostly on rotting fruit. European wasps are an introduced pest here.
August 15th, 2022  
@carole_sandford I vaguely remember this, now I come to think of it.
August 15th, 2022  
@beryl Seriously Beryl, I only have an iPhone at the moment so I need to get super close to get a detailed close-up. He couldn’t care less!
August 15th, 2022  
@happypat If only it was that easy. I might try it with a couple of over-ripe peaches in my fruit bowl 😊
August 15th, 2022  
@wakelys He was so ‘out of it’ there was no chance of disorderly behaviour.
August 15th, 2022  
@ankers70 Gah, so sorry about that. One of them stung my OH on the lip last week. It took ages to go down. It did keep him quiet for a while though, so - result!
August 15th, 2022  
@tinley23 years ago we lived next to geese that would get drunk on the fallen apples and the would stagger and even fall over.
August 15th, 2022  
@wakelys Oh haha, poor things.
August 15th, 2022  
Magnificent close-up.
August 15th, 2022  
What a great macro
August 15th, 2022  
@boxplayer @30pics4jackiesdiamond Thank you. He was too drunk to notice me.
August 15th, 2022  
@carole_sandford monkeys and elephants couldn't walk straight!!!!
August 15th, 2022  
@30pics4jackiesdiamond I must look this up.
August 15th, 2022  
LOL. Yes, they can be really dangerous when they are drunk and angry! There's quite a bit on the internet about drunken wasps.
@tinley23
August 15th, 2022  
@ankers70 Ooh I shall have a look. I guess I was lucky to get really ‘in his face’ today. I shall definitely be more careful in future.
August 15th, 2022  
Yikes, it does sound as though he is a bit drunk on the fermented fruit. Hope he isn't a bad tempered drunk, ha ha.
August 15th, 2022  
What a super macro, Lesley! And I've been enjoying all the comments. My bee story (although your photo is of a wasp) entails our provincial premier last week. In the middle of giving a press conference outside, he swallowed a bee! He took it in stride, grabbing a glass of water to wash it down, with someone in the background shouting, "Drown it!" If the bee had been drunk, it might have helped (?)
August 16th, 2022  
It’s a stellar close-up!
August 16th, 2022  
@365projectorgheatherb a funny song about swallowing a fly popped into my head!!
August 16th, 2022  
What a great shot, and a fascinating thread of comments about drunk wasps - I'd never heard of such a thing!
August 16th, 2022  
Where I work, people get drunk on overripe fruit. I had to laugh at this fella hanging on to that plant
August 16th, 2022  
Fabulous close up. And amazing comments about drunken bees. I often observe this behavior of individual wasps or bumblebees. But it never happened en masse.
August 16th, 2022  
@onewing Haha I admit I was a bit nervous about getting so close but I think he was concentrating so hard on clinging to the leaf that he didn’t care about me.
August 16th, 2022  
@365projectorgheatherb What a thing to happen! Dirk was stung on his lip last week when he didn’t notice a wasp in his beer. I’m not laughing, honest!
August 16th, 2022  
@ljmanning Thanks Laura
August 16th, 2022  
@jamibann @haskar Thank you so much. The neighbours are away so can’t clear up the rotting fruit. I’m trying hard to keep the dogs from that but if the garden. It’s not working…
August 16th, 2022  
@kjarn Haha - where on earth do you work?
August 16th, 2022  
In a prison
August 16th, 2022  
@kjarn Oh I see. Now it makes sense 😊
August 16th, 2022  
Stellar focus.
August 16th, 2022  
@tinley23 ohhhhhh!!!!
August 18th, 2022  
August 18th, 2022  
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