What you should know to be safe:

For all those otherwise sane people who start running round in circles at the merest hint of a threatening buzzzz, the news is not good: we are in the throes of a wasp epidemic  -  and according to the experts it’s only going to get worse.

The heatwave is partly responsible for ramping up the number of these menacing yellow and black creatures.

Because it’s not just humans who’ve been loving this summer’s extraordinary spell of long, scorching days and clammy evenings. For wasps, hot weather is bliss because it means improved breeding conditions and better survival rates for the insects on which they like to feed. In other words, more grub.

The past year has been a bumper one for wasps, according to Rentokil’s technical director Savvas Othon, ‘and with many wasps’ nests being left untreated due to the recession, there could be even more around this year.’

The company has already seen a 231per cent rise in wasp inquiries over a five-week period in the early summer and, it says, ‘with more warm weather expected and wasps’ nests growing in size as the season progresses, we expect the number of wasp-related inquiries to rise substantially.’

So how many wasps are there in this country?

‘No one knows exactly, but more than there are people at this time of year,’ says David Glaser, who runs a website called Wasp Watch, which he set up to give information on wasps after he had a bad allergic reaction when he was stung nine years ago.

For sufferers of spheksophobia (fear of wasps), the website’s most mesmerising feature may be its Sting Index, which gives an indication of how often people are being stung, measured by the amount of internet traffic looking at cures for wasp stings.

What should know NOT to do, to be safe:

Rule #1 – DON’T THROW BALLS AT THE NESTS!

Don’t do that?

And you should be just fine.