A MAN from Eastington came home from holiday to find a huge nest of unwelcome guests in his garden.

Returning from a family trip to North Wales, 72-year-old Bob Faraway from Alkerton Road discovered his bird box had been over-run by a swarm of wasps.

After ringing the council to get quotes to remove the nest, he decided to deal with the issue himself and bought a protective suit - complete with goggles, mask and gloves and a can of Wasp Nest Destroyer.

Mr Faraway, who has lived in the village with his wife Ann for more than 40 years, said: “When I found out you could buy a disposable suit I thought I’d be brave and give it a go myself.

“The Pest Controllers were going to charge £60 to remove the nest, and you can buy a suit online for half the price.

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“I’ve never done anything like that before but I was really badly stung when I was about four years old so I have always been wary of wasps. Fortunately the protective suit I bought fully covered my whole body including my head so I did feel reasonably safe the whole time.

“It was quite a large nest - there was a constant humming and buzzing and the wasps were constantly coming and going from the garden. There must have been more than 50 wasps nesting there.

“While neither my wife or I are allergic to wasps, we couldn’t use the garden for quite a few days, so unfortunately the insects had to go.”

Armed with killer spray and protected by his disposable suit, Mr Faraway waited until night time on Sunday to deal with the nest.

He said that after the first spray the nest took over ten days to be completely destroyed.

“I have always been a great lover of nature, so I did feel a little guilty about killing them,” he admitted.

“When I was sure there were none left I took down the nest from the bird box for a closer look - it’s amazing how quickly the paper-like construction was produced. It made me realise how clever insects can be.”