A COLONY of wasps who made a home in a Forest bird box, have outgrown it to such an extent, you can't see the box any more.

The wasps first appeared a couple of months ago in Eddie Clarke's garden in Church Road, Longhope.

"They went in through the lid and started making themselves at home. They kept on working and working and building and building until they completely covered over the hole into the nest box. Then they carried on and the covered the box - it's now about three or four inches thick in places."

Mr Clarke's also convinced his flying guests are smaller than normal.

"I'd say they're about half the size of a normal wasp and the nest isn't really grey, it's a sort of soft yellow with lovely patterns, a bit like ripples or the pattern on shells".

Surprisingly, about 300 different types of wasps are found in the UK, but most live alone. There are six species which nest as colonies, if you include hornets among them. The most common being the German Wasp and Common Wasp, both of which will be familiar to anyone who's ever had a picnic. The others are the Norwegian Wasp (mostly up North), the Red Wasp and Tree Wasp, which only builds small ball-shaped nests in bushes.

But...could they be paper wasps? Advice appreciated.