On holiday in the south west of France we saw some/just one around quite a lot (?) insects that looked like big, fat common wasps. Didn't really have a pronounced waist. My 13-year old nephew, having been taught to sit still if a wasp landed on him, sat and watched one of these big wasps on his arm. While he watched it it brought its mouthpiece from each side together to form a sort of point and stabbed it into his arm! He was left with a small puncture wound (which bled a little) , which was a bit sore, but it clearly hadn't stung him as such as it didn't swell up or anything and disappeared pretty quickly. We think that the same happened to my 7-year old, who was almost hysterical saying that a wasp had stung him, but there was no evidence of a sting (this was before the 13 year old, so at the time we thought he was just being a drama-queen!!). In both cases the boys were wet, having been in the pool. Any idea what these might have been?
Big biting wasp - what was it?
- Thread starter Elspeth
- Start date
Almost certainly a horsefly, something in the Tabanus sudeticus line, like the first picture posted by Blacktimberwolf.
Nasty experience for the youngster
Nasty experience for the youngster
Hi Elspeth, did it look a bit like this?
Hate these things more than any other insect with the possible exception of hornets (shudder)
They actually don't bother me too much, only ever had one bite me and it died for it. They seem to move quite slowly.
Agreed on the Hornets, the Ryanair of flying stingy things.
Hornets are ok. Big, fearsome, and usually placid unless you do something to make them defend their nest. I wouldn't want to be stung by one though.
And I thought clegs were bad :yikes:
No way I'd have sat still for thon blighter though.
Funny enough, I was reading on walkhighlands recently and clegs were mentioned, and that using bracken eases the bite
I'll find a link.
cheers,
Toddy
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1264
No way I'd have sat still for thon blighter though.
Funny enough, I was reading on walkhighlands recently and clegs were mentioned, and that using bracken eases the bite
I'll find a link.
cheers,
Toddy
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1264
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Agreed. Huge, scary, yet the most placid and docile of their species. I'm about as fearful of a hornet as I am of a bumblebee, though Ive had to work at it
Agreed. Huge, scary, yet the most placid and docile of their species. I'm about as fearful of a hornet as I am of a bumblebee, though Ive had to work at it
Haha the only ones I've come across have been more than a little angry! Perhaps capturing them enrages them a little..?
And I thought clegs were bad :yikes:
No way I'd have sat still for thon blighter though.
Funny enough, I was reading on walkhighlands recently and clegs were mentioned, and that using bracken eases the bite
I'll find a link.
cheers,
Toddy
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1264
I would urge caution using bracken for anything, I know it is eaten in some countries and is used topically in certain folk remedies but the evidence is stacking up that bracken is a potentially dangerous source of carcinogens, it has even been suggested that the higher instance of stomach and esophageal cancers in some areas "could" be due to high concentration bracken in the area.
With regard to the OP< the fact that the insect was described as biting rules out wasps and hornets, which sting rather than bite. Therefore it was a biting fly.
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