Get a trap (from Home Depot, etc.) and hang it near the pond area. Otherwise, live and let drink. It doesn't sound like they're doing any harm.

Brenda

If they really make you nervous and you are willing to let them live if they leave you alone, you might try training them to go to other places for water. Observe their flight patterns until you know where they are coming from. Set up a shallow bird bath in their flight path before they reach the pond and keep it it filled with water so they don't need to go to your pond. You can get better results sometimes by using a sugar concentrate like you would use in a humming bird feeder. Bees, wasps and hornets adapt quickly but the Yellow Jackets are harder. I think they are just crazy from the get-go. They love to get inside an almost empty soda can. Sandy

I have done a lot of research on this because I have been attacked by Yellow Jackets in my yard and though I'm not allergic, the skin reaction I get is so severe that I am down for a few days from just one single bite. I also find them extremely aggressive and we use our yard a lot for eating out, barbecuing, etc., and I refuse to let them keep me indoors!

Anyway, I did some reading and yellow jackets feed on dead insects (not live) and garbage. And yes they like to nest near water. My pond is an above ground built with railroad ties and they like to nest in those ties.

My advice:

In early Spring, they are looking for a place to nest. Try not to let them nest in your yard by sealing any cavities they might try to use as a nest. I have sprayed that insulation foam in places where I have seen them nest (like between the railroad ties). If you see a yellow jacket going in and out of a cavity, that's a nest but not until later in the season. I think now they're just scoping things out, at least here in Colorado.

Put up the traps, you can buy them everywhere and they work great, for me they have. They use a pheromone (or a fake one) just don't let that get on you when setting up the trap! The traps will not attract bees or wasps. We really need bees so I do what I can to keep them around. Wasps, I don't know. I have paper wasps that nest in my yard and I've never been attacked by them. From what I can tell, bees and wasps will leave you alone unless threatened. Yellow Jackets seem to come at you if you're a mile from their nest! I don't like them at all.

If you have to destroy a nest, they have sprays made for that. Do it when the yellow jackets are dormant, early morning or late evening so they won't attack. I wear clothes to protect my legs and arms, even gloves! The spray shoots 25 feet it says but you don't have to get that far away. I don't like using pesticides but I will destroy yellow jacket nests in my yard to avoid being driven out by them.

I would start by hanging a trap near your pond.

Traps are the best solution unless you can find the location of the nest. We've experimented with many varieties. We have found the "Rescue" trap to be the best. Some traps have an entrance hole that is way too big and the yellow jackets down stay trappped. Remember to keep the pheremone fresh. Early in the season, you will catch large yellow jackets. I am told they are queens. Later you will get smaller ones. This year we have caught a lot of the queens. Hopefully that means fewer of them in the summer.

BTW - One time on TV I saw something that explained how yellow jackets locate things. They said that they recognize patterns and use those patterns to help them return to food after they have located it. I have used this info to get us some peace when we are eating outside. If a yellow jacket comes around, I chase it away (trying to kill it if I can). Once it is gone, I move things around on the table. I may raise or lower an awning, etc. It definitely seems to help.