A HAMPSHIRE man has been stung to death by a swarm of wasps on his farm.

Colin Marlow, 56, was attacked by the insects after disturbing a nest on his smallholding.

He was stung repeatedly and he is thought to have gone into shock, collapsed and suffered heart failure.

It is understood the tragedy happened as Mr Marlow was building a chicken shed for one of his grandchildren. Mr Marlow kept about 50,000 chickens and a herd of pigs at his farm in Stuckton Road, near Fordingbridge.

An inquest into his death, earlier this month, will be held in Southampton on Tuesday.

Following a private family cremation, a memorial service for Mr Marlow was held at nearby Hyde village church.

He is survived by his widow Lynda, their children and grandchildren.

Earlier this week the Daily Echo revealed that there had been an explosion in the south's wasp population.

During the first two weeks of August 2003, Southampton's environmental health officers received about 30 reports of wasp nests each week.

For the same period this year, that number had risen dramatically to an average 25 a day. Those increases were repeated across the region.

Nurses at the Bitterne NHS Walk-in Centre said there had been a huge rise in the number of patients complaining of wasp stings in the past two months.

Health experts said most people stung by wasps suffered little more than discomfort and slight swelling.

However, in some cases even a single sting could be fatal as it can trigger a life-threatening allergic reaction known as an anaphylactic shock.

Hampshire man Neville Hayward had been in perfect health until he died in 2001 because of a wasp sting he suffered ten months earlier.

The 36-year-old former worker at Pirelli in Eastleigh was taken to hospital after he was stung by a wasp at work.

His symptoms suggested he was suffering from anaphylaxis and he was prescribed with adrenalin to inject himself if he had another reaction.

But ten months later he suffered a second reaction and died despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.

His mother, Vera Hayward, of Fawley, said: "We certainly never expected Neville to be affected so seriously and it all happened so quickly. I didn't know anything about it at all. I think people should be more aware of what can happen."