What we will do on the island
The same work we do on the mainland: find the nest, treat it at the entry point, and come back if activity has not settled. Wasps defend a nest that is disturbed, which is why the job is worth doing properly rather than from a stepladder with a can.
Hornets too. They are bigger, quieter and nest in the same sorts of places, and they worry people more than they need to. A hornet nest away from a doorway or a path is often best left alone, and we will say so rather than sell a treatment nobody needs.
Honeybees are different again, and we do not destroy a honeybee colony that can be moved. Where a swarm or a colony can be relocated, that is what should happen to it.
Why wasps matter here in particular
Wasp nests build through the summer and are at their largest and most defensive from late July onwards, which is exactly when the island is busiest. A nest in a soffit over a doorway is an inconvenience in May and a real problem in August.
Older housing stock gives wasps what they want: gaps under tiles, open soffits, airbricks and loft space reached through a lifted ridge. Holiday accommodation, pub gardens and campsites then put people directly in the flight path.
None of that is unique to the island, but the timing is unforgiving: the weeks when a nest is worst are the weeks when a let cannot afford to lose a booking.
Where we will cover
The whole island, PO30 to PO41: Newport, Ryde, Cowes, East Cowes, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Freshwater, Yarmouth and Bembridge, along with the villages between them.
We are not putting a date on it, because a date we miss is worse than no date at all. What we can say is that the list below is the first thing we will work through.