On Thu, 13 Aug 2020 14:50:03 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk wrote:

We have a very large wasps' nest inside the eaves of our roof -
football size.

Thats not "very large". "Very large" is what I found late in the year
in a loft in Bristol. I'd gone up looking for something stored up
there after thumping about for a bit I became aware of a strange
rustley/scrapey/buzzy noise behind me. Turn round and shone the torch
to reveal a wasps nest in the eaves, 3' wide and filling up 18" of
gap from rafters to insulation. A few wasps crawling about it's
surface then they started flying at me. I beat a *very* hasty
retreat, Got some one it to deal with it, bee suit, long stick and
squirty can of paraffin. Opened up the nest with stick liberaly
squirted the nest and occupants with the paraffin and left. Did for
'em.

Next year I found a smaller nest earlier in the year (permethrin
based wasp powder did for that one). Also found a couple of empty
starter homes.

Spring of the next year a couple more active starter homes, just gave
the loft space a good dose of ordinary fly killer. As a precaution
spring the year after as well.

Is leaving it not an option ?

I normally say leave 'em unless they are causing a real nuisance,
like their flight path across/near an often used door. I wasn't going
to take my chances with that big one though and I wanted access to
the loft.

Very occasionally we might have on persistent bugger in the evening when
we're sitting outside with a drink. But if you can put up with that ...

I reckon wasps are just naturally curious. They buzz about looking
for good food sources. If that happens to be near a human and that
human starts screaming and shouting flapping their arms about it just
raises the wasps curiousity and it tries to investigate, which of
course just makes the human flap even more. Don't pay much attention
to a wasp and it'll get bored and fly off...

--
Cheers
Dave.