Stung by a wasp on a swarm day

Today's task sounded like a nice thing to do on a sunny afternoon. When we arrived at the pond site, Anne, the task owner already had four sets consisting of a wheelbarrow, a rake and a fork arranged for us outside the storage container. We were asked to split up into pairs and start raking the semi-dry hay an pile it onto compost heaps. Laura and James went to rake close to the site entrance, Vicky and Barbara busied themselves around the space on the other side of the storage container and Ed and Amy went a little bit further up the path. Zinnie was running slightly late and when she arrived we both went to join Ed and Amy. When we arrived Ed just managed to escape a swarm of wasps. They followed him for good 20 metres as he unintentionally disturbed their nest while raking the cuttings along the meadow perimeter. Poor Ed was stung four times and left his fork near the nest. After a quick check that Ed is still fit and well to continue with the task we went to see if the fork could be retrieved. The wasps however were not giving it back and were swarming around it in large number. We decided to leave it to the first frost before coming back to retrieve it. This event sparked a conversation about wasps diet and we continued with the task.

After 40 minutes of raking and cuttings gathering we gathered back at the tools store for the group photo. Just before we left our location brave Zinnie retrieved the fork from the wasps possession. She cleverly used her rake to lift the fork by its handle while wasps weren't watching. Thanks to her feat we could happily say that no tool was left behind today.

We will be visiting Chapmans Pond in the near future, as there is more hay to rake and other tasks around the site that require completion before winter.