Today I was attacked by some wasps/bees (not sure which, hence my question!) when I inadvertently disturbed a nest hidden beneath some vines/weeds/brush growing over our neighbour's fence. I tugged on the vine to break it loose and clear it when, seemingly out of nowhere, a bunch of them swarmed up and attacked.

Amazingly I only got two stings, but since I'm allergic it was still pretty scary (and uncomfortable!).

Later today I went out to have another look - it seems our neighbour had pulled down the vine from the other side after hearing what happened, and I was able to see this (shot with a telephoto lens - you can believe I am SERIOUSLY keeping my distance!!):

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/divamum/IMG_4226.jpg

I've been researching online all afternoon and I'm guessing that these are perhaps paperwasps from the markings, but I'm not sure. Any advice on how to proceed with this would be hugely appreciated - I have a young child as well, so while I would love to say "live and let live", I can't afford any more injuries to me or my family, so we need to come up with a plan to remove them somehow.

Oh, also: two days ago, I had some folks clear brush in and around this area - it's been undisturbed for years - and they also filled in a couple of small holes we'd noticed in the ground. We've NEVER seen any insect activity at all, not even when eating outside, but is it possible those were nests too?

Thanks for any help.