Members of the Severn Business Network, which meet at Shrewsbury Town’s Greenhous Stadium on a Thursday, are used to hearing tales of Jim Eaton’s work to clear Shrewsbury of pests but his prop at a recent meeting came as a surprise.

Jim, of Pestforce, said: “This was the biggest nest I have found for a long while. Part of it was spotted in a boiler room and when I investigated I discovered the rest of it had been hidden. A nest this size can hold about 8,000 wasps.

“Certain pests are always more of an issue in rural areas and Shropshire has quite a big problem with wasps. I also deal a lot with rats, mice, fleas, cluster flies, moles and bed bugs – which people often bring back from holiday.”

Jim told his tale to members at the breakfast meeting and photographer Stefan Greco took a few snaps to show the actual size of the nest in comparison to Jim, who always wears a bee suit when dealing with nests.

“A wasp nest itself is not dangerous, but the individual wasps when working together can be formidable,” adds Jim.

“Wasp venom can be life-threatening if you are allergic and if stung enough times people who are not allergic can be overcome by wasp venom. Wasps from a nest this size would be a formidable and dangerous force when aggressive.”