Rather than wait for back-up and, despite pleas from wife Anne, former policeman David Le Page decided to take on a horde of angry wasps by himself. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0843313)

ARMED with nothing but a fly swatter, former police officer David Le Page took on 10,000 wasps.

Despite pleas of logic from his wife Anne, the stalwart islander insisted on confronting the problem himself.

Not until he had been stung on his hand and face was he finally persuaded to call in the professionals.

‘He went out to see about it with the fly swat and he was waving it about like he was playing badminton – it was hilarious and I roared with laughter,’ said Mrs Le Page yesterday.

But the tables turned when what he thought were a few angry wasps turned out to be many thousands, flying out of a giant nest in the bow of the boat in his garden.

The couple were about to host a dinner for their children and grandchildren before they returned to university. Mr Le Page had gone to the boat to fetch chairs stored there, but had no idea what was lurking behind them.

‘When I got the first sting on my hand I just thought it was strange, but then I saw the wasps flying out of the hole where the anchor chain goes into the boat,’ he said.

‘I went to get the fly swat but that didn’t work. They stung me right on my nose.’

He covered the hole with Blu-Tack and closed the cabin doors, then decided it was time to get an expert in.

OCS Environmental Services pest control manager Jonathan Wilkins came prepared.

‘The cabin was filled with up to 10,000 wasps and the nest looked like something out of an alien film,’ he said. ‘It was made of saliva and plant matter and the outside looked like a giant brain.’

He set off a pesticide bomb just outside the opening and left it to poison the wasps.