A pest controller found one of the biggest wasp nests of his 25 year career in a loft - and says it would have been home to 100,000 insects.
Ralph Clews says the nest was 3 ft high and over 70 inches in circumference - and was one of three found oin the attic space.
"It was absolutely huge, you can see how big it is as I'm 6 ft 1 and 28 stone" Ralph told CoventryLive.
"There were three nests in the loft in all, one about twice the size of a football, but this one was unbelievable.
"I only just managed to get it through the loft hatch. This is the biggest one I've ever seen, and I've being doing it since 1997.
"The customer wanted to show his grandson and maybe he could it take it to school, but he said 'Jesus he can turn up to school with that'. They were absolutely amazed.
"It's not heavy, but it measured 3 ft 2 inches tall, and all the way round, it was 70.5 inches. Absolutely huge. I would think there would have been about 100,000 wasps. 75,000 to 100,000."
The wasps had been killed before the removal of the nest.
Ralph said: He explained: "They don't use old nests, so it would have been built in one season. Each year the queen finds somewhere new and they start again. They use old rotten timber, mixed with their saliva, so it's actually made of wood, basically, but it's thin as paper, a bit like paper mache."
Ralph, who runs RC Pest Management, also keeps bees privately, and uses his profession to maintain his stock and help others set themselves up in the hobby.
He said: "I keep bees to help out, we get calls for swarms of bees, around May time, I collect them, put them into hives, keep the bees, collect the honey and keep it for myself.
"Or I'll help people who are looking to start a bee hive, I can can provide a nuke box, a small colony of bees, then it's something new for someone else."
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