Beautiful insect, well I think so.........

[Jack]

Ok, hornets, a subject close to my heart.

In fact, they are on our door step, they have built there nest in our roof just next to the front door. These guys are big and they make sure you know that they are there, it is like have a fuull bomber wing flying past your house!

We have three children so people have been very busy recommending that we have the nest destroyed - well that ain;t gonna happen! Why? Well they have been there a lot longer than us and I get rather tired of the usual ' its a beastie, you have to kill it' it is attitudes like that that make me furious. Work with nature, not against it. They are a wondeful creature to watch, they are flipping busy as they are working 24 hours a day.

With regards to their sting, do not under estimate the power of their sting, I step on one last week and it knocked me of my feet, I have stepped on many things and even had nails drive up through my foot but nothing compares to the kick of that hornet - kids thought it was funny though :aargh4:

 

[stovie]

Great Pics as always Jon. Had several bees on my hand the other day, but didn't keep them there long enough to photo

Did our second harvest of honey, over 300lb...not been a bad year...

 

[pibbleb]

Some nice pics there Jon but hadn't realised how big they got round our way. That's me locking all the doors and not going outside then!

Pib

 

[JonnyP]

Ok, hornets, a subject close to my heart.

In fact, they are on our door step, they have built there nest in our roof just next to the front door. These guys are big and they make sure you know that they are there, it is like have a fuull bomber wing flying past your house!

We have three children so people have been very busy recommending that we have the nest destroyed - well that ain;t gonna happen! Why? Well they have been there a lot longer than us and I get rather tired of the usual ' its a beastie, you have to kill it' it is attitudes like that that make me furious. Work with nature, not against it. They are a wondeful creature to watch, they are flipping busy as they are working 24 hours a day.

With regards to their sting, do not under estimate the power of their sting, I step on one last week and it knocked me of my feet, I have stepped on many things and even had nails drive up through my foot but nothing compares to the kick of that hornet - kids thought it was funny though :aargh4:

Cheers for all the nice comments guys.
Jack, I am glad you feel this way, so many people just want to kill them, being ignorant of them, when I got up to the pub last friday evening, the place was in uproar because there was a hornet that had flown in, I said no problem, I will take it out, but they had already sprayed it with insect killer, I was not going to pick it up after that, so I left them to it.
I always think wasps have 4 cylinders and hornets have V8 engines.........

 

[vespa]

Great pics Jon. As you can imagine (my username!) hornets are of interest to me (as are many hymenoptera). Especially after photographing some at their nest a couple of weeks ago, I got stung on the forehead – my fault for getting a little too close and not wearing a hat lol. Great creatures - they are design classics of the insect world, and they seem to be spreading north. Oh and they pain from the sting was similar to a normal wasp.

Alan

 

[JonnyP]

Great pics Jon. As you can imagine (my username!) hornets are of interest to me (as are many hymenoptera). Especially after photographing some at their nest a couple of weeks ago, I got stung on the forehead – my fault for getting a little too close and not wearing a hat lol. Great creatures - they are design classics of the insect world, and they seem to be spreading north. Oh and they pain from the sting was similar to a normal wasp.

Alan

Lol, yes I remember your post about it on WAB, loads about round here and still catching them with the moth trap, thats the best time to pick them up, when they are cooler and more settled in the evening...........

 

[Tengu]

you are very brave

 

[JonnyP]

you are very brave

Not at all, I just know a bit about the character of hornets, if you go near their nest, they will attack, as Alan (above) found out, though he did manage to get some good photo's for his efforts. When they cool down and are sleepy, they are quite docile. They are very unlike wasps............

 

[swyn]

There has been talk of hummingbird moths and hornets here so I must tell of our observations of the two species interacting on and around our big white budliah (spelling) when it was in full bloom. We were watching the humming bird moths and trying to photograph them and noticed that there was a hornet following one of the humming bird moths. Every time the moth went to put it's proboscis into a flower the hornet took a dive and tried to grab it. The moth was too quick and the hornet started to get confused and started to mistake the bumble bees for the moth and land on them instead. The bumbles were not amused as you can imagine and did a lot of buzzing and finally the hornet gave up. This always seemed to happen just around dusk and was good to watch. I don't think the hornet ever got his moth but not for the want of trying!
Swyn.

 

[British Red]

Well,

Inspired by Jon's being hornet friendly, I tool this shot today...watched the big fellah digging into that apple for a good quarter hour - they realy are very beautiful

Red

 

[JonnyP]

Nice one Red, you do need to be careful of them when they have been at the apples, they tend to get very drunk, and start to fall about the place getting all lairy, and being sick and picking fights. They even try to fly, like it

 

[chas brookes]

Hi Jon
I have just spent an hour watching the hornets in my garden, catching and carrying off the wasps which were feeding on the Ivy flowers.
They were as agile as dragonflys in catching the wasps and dispatching them.
They also fed on the Ivy flowers themselves, they are truly a remarkable member of the insect world
Chas :swordfigh

 

[JonnyP]

Hi Jon
I have just spent an hour watching the hornets in my garden, catching and carrying off the wasps which were feeding on the Ivy flowers.
They were as agile as dragonflys in catching the wasps and dispatching them.
They also fed on the Ivy flowers themselves, they are truly a remarkable member of the insect world
Chas :swordfigh

Nice one.....Have yet to see them catch another insect, but I know they do it, yes they are remarkable.....
Caught some more last week in the moth trap, and got some more shots of one crawling up my arm.........