I'll put a comment here as I would like to follow the thread and read advice given by members...

Are you sure those wasps didn't die of fright seeing you in your shorts wearing a Hallowe'en mask ? ;o)

I would suggest that you should find out where the wasps were entering your loft and sealing the hole. This will stop them coming back next year and building a new nest.

They might have done lol...I've left them there till tomorrow so i can take a picture of them to make sure they are wasps. (you know what i'm like for identifying creatures).. Hopefully someone will know the answer though.

Wont the queen still be in the nest Bulbaholic?

Nope Bill the queen has gone to sleep somewhere but not in he nest and probably not in your home.

Oh i see Moon growe...I think ill leave it another month though before i go poking around up there.

When you go into the loft for your Christmas Decorations... don't wear shorts ...

In case i scare Santa?

nope... in case you are dressed as Santa, and the wasps invade your white beard and moustache ...
... ho ho ho...

Lol TT....But wasps are 'orrible nasty things..

As Moon and Bilbobaggins said, the queens will probably be hibernating in nooks and crannies somewhere until the warmer weather returns.

The worker wasps usually die in the autumn, and the queen dies a short time later. The new, (next years Queens), might be hibernating ready for next year.

Your'e right in what you said about normally they wouldn't use the same nest, but occasionally a queen will build a new nest the following spring next to an old one. I believe that the reason why they don't use the nest again is to do with contamination, viruses in the old nest or something.

To answer your question about getting someone in now or waiting. If your at all concerned, then get someone to look at it now before they become active. A quick spray in your attic should kill off any queens if they are there.

Glad you asked that question Billdingsite. We have found 2 golf ball sized nests in our loft recently. The wasps are coming into my daughters bedroom and dying on the window sill. We weren't sure ourselves whether to get somebody in, but we shall wait until next spring and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I was up there today hoovering them up. There must have been 100 dead ones mainly all below the sky light. I couldn't see any nest but I got thinking about the new windows I had put in at the front this year and wondered if that had disturbed them and may have got stuck in the loft trying to get out of the window.

Possibly...

Vacuumed 100 dead wasps ...
.... and hopefully no live ones .... ?