Wasp sting

I was up a ladder trying to fix a gutter when I put my head directly into a paper wasp nest on a fern frond. I literally flew off the ladder and found myself on the ground (on my back) with a burning sting on my left cheek. I picked myself up and suddenly felt very hot on my face with an itchiness on my chest, under my chin and on my legs. I also felt short of breath and light headed. Like an idiot I continued doing what I was doing on the roof of the house and hours later took two antihistamine tablets and went to bed. The next morning I looked in the mirror and saw the most horrific ‘morning face’ and, of course, took a quick selfie:

Looks like I’d been punched!

My whole face was swollen on one side with significant fluid under my left eye. I first thought I’d been stung by a hornet as the insect was long and thin and bright colored but as the nest was quite obvious – because I’d stuck my head right into it –  I realized it was a paper wasp. These skinny insects gather fiber from dead wood and mix it with their saliva to build nests that look like old cardboard egg cartons. I read that their stings can produce a painful anaphylactic reaction like I had.

Paper wasp – Wikimedia Commons.

I also researched that when bees sting they actually release pheromones with the venom that triggers more bees to attack. I’m guessing it’s probably similar with paper wasps – a natural protection mechanism that produces a deadly swarm of angry, stinging insects.