A woman was puzzled when she found a strange “crust” on her bed in her mother’s seldom-used spare room. It turned out to be a massive wasp nest housing around 5,000 wasps. The nest, measuring 3 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep, was still growing, and the insects had chewed through the mattress and pillows to construct it.

When pest controller John Birkett arrived at the scene, he realized the nest had been growing for several months. The woman, who lived alone in a five-bedroom house in Winchester, Hampshire, hadn’t entered the spare room in months. It was discovered that a window had been left open, allowing the wasps to build their nest.

Birkett, astonished by the size of the nest, estimated that there were up to 700 queen wasps inside. He dressed in protective gear and used a spray to eliminate the wasps. Although he managed to clear the area and even saved the blanket on the bed, Birkett was saddened by the loss of the hardworking insects.

This unusual incident was a first for Birkett, who had never encountered such a large wasp nest in a room before.