I saw this large and perfectly formed wasp nest near the Briseis Water Race, at Branxholm. (Click the photos for a grand view)

I sent the photos to Simon Fearn, insect expert at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery and Museum, who said:

“That is a lovely example of an above ground European wasp nest (Vespula germanica).

The outer visible envelope forms that ball shape and inside are around 10 comb layers where the larvae are reared. The whole thing is made of paper. The wasps gather dry wood fibres from weathered dead timber (which is often telegraph poles and paling fences in urban areas), mix it with water and smear it out in thin layers. You can clearly see this effect on the outside of your nest.

Vespula generally construct these nests in underground cavities.

It’s not common in Tasmania to see these exposed nests on the outside of vegetation. Its more common in warmer parts of their introduced range such as the north Island of New Zealand where they can famously produce gigantic perennial nests the size of a car and weighing 400kg!

Perhaps in the north east with a warming climate this will become more common in Tasmania.

Nests built in exposed situations like this are generally larger than subterranean examples because the wasps don’t have to dig to enlarge the underground cavity as the nest grows.”

Lloyd Reeves, with information by Simon Fearn