Hornets?

[Nice65]

Couple of these came out of my woodburner just now. I’ve had the fire going recently, but not for a couple of days. Yet one of these just emerged, which was enough for me to catch it in a jar, but then another came into the woodburner.

They can’t fly, quite docile, but I’ll not trust my luck. Currently a pair are clattering away in a jar, fairly well freaked me out.

 

[brancho]

They have the look of wood wasps which are not wasps at all but sawflys.

Are they covered in soot or is that their colour?

Where do you live (roughly).


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[Nice65]

Thanks for the response.

I’m in West Sussex. The colour is their colour, not soot. They’re pretty big, over an inch. I have two of them in a jar in the fridge, I’ll take a better pic later. They look a bit Asian Hornet to me, I’d be happy to find they’re wood wasps.

We’ve had 3 of them, one flying around, these two in a lined flue and in my woodburner. A burner that has sat with partially burned wood in it for several days.

 

[Zingmo]

The Asian hornet id information is here:
http://www.nonnativespecies.org/alerts/index.cfm?id=4
The pdf file is too large to upload apparently.

I can't make a judgement from those pictures, but if they are Asian hornets you really should report them.

Z

 

[Nice65]

More pics. They’re not wood wasps, I’m fairly sure of that. How they’re getting into a lined flue and arriving in my woodburner I’ve no idea.

To be honest, I don’t mind hornets, they’re very docile. My dogs don’t share my opinion and attack flies etc with a vengeance. A sting from one of these could kill a Jack Russell.

 

[brancho]

Now they look like hornets

You seem to have nest in the house or a very close colony.

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[Nice65]

Now they look like hornets

You seem to have nest in the house or a very close colony.

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Cheers Alf, that’s what I thought.

I’ll have to get my landlord onto it.

 

[Robbi]

Found two of those in my bathroom, one very much alive in the toilet
Cistern, no idea how it got in there.

They are quite big, much bigger than a wasp.

 

[KenThis]

When I had hornets in Surrey they were a little bigger and browner and shinier and had really nasty mandibles and were a little bit more obviously segmented..
I'm no expert and it's hard to tell exactly from the pictures.
Of course there may well be different species, subspecies etc.
The guy that came out for us said that ours were from the local woods and that they come out (at about this time of year) looking for new nesting sites.
We only noticed them because I heard them scratching behind a partition wall and saw an opening under the eave that they were using outside.
He got rid of them very easily with the same stuff to get rid of wasps a few puffs of powder at the nest entrance and they were gone within 24 hours.
Best of luck.

 

[slowworm]

I was going to suggest queen wasps but on closer inspection they do look like hornets, European ones.

 

[brancho]

Found two of those in my bathroom, one very much alive in the toilet
Cistern, no idea how it got in there.

They are quite big, much bigger than a wasp.

That sounds like a hunting hornet getting into a tunnel (the overflow pipe) and not finding the way out

 

[MrEd]

If your not sure Report it, it’s likely a Euro hornet which is native but if it’s an Asian
Hornet then there are notifiable as they are invasive (and a big problem for beekeepers lime nyself)

I am in West Sussex. I hope it’s not an Asian hornet!!!’

 

[crosslandkelly]

https://www.essexlive.news/news/what-asian-hornets-what-should-1556129

 

[Robson Valley]

Figure this out. What is it? Maybe you're not bothered but the poor folks and/or their children that have to carry an Epi-Pen certainly do.
Me? I'm sensitized to our Bald-faced Hornets ( big, black and white coloring). I don't want to ever get stung again.
Bumble Bees are my favorite little animals. Hornets can kiss my WD-40.

 

[Nice65]

Figure this out. What is it? Maybe you're not bothered but the poor folks and/or their children that have to carry an Epi-Pen certainly do.
Me? I'm sensitized to our Bald-faced Hornets ( big, black and white coloring). I don't want to ever get stung again.
Bumble Bees are my favorite little animals. Hornets can kiss my WD-40.

The most docile of the wasp family? They’re gentle, buzzing dollops that won’t harm you. Not like the wasps we get end of season when the queen has stopped releasing pheromones to keep her brood in order and they all fly off to munch on rotting cider apples and get drunk and lairy.

The need for an Epi pen is misunderstood. I had a seriously bad reaction to something, lips swelling, throat swelling, tongue etc. Plus massive hives all over. Epi-pen adrenaline is for very low, sudden, blood pressure drop only.

One nurse at the hospital suggested I should carry an Epi-pen because blood pressure drops sharply during the attack. My blood pressure hadn’t dropped, the other nurse said a big dose of speed might not be the best thing under the circumstances, might even have killed me.

 

[Robson Valley]

Some people need to carry Eip-Pens, some don't. I understand that.
I'll bet that the pen-carriers already know something of their physiological response profile.

Our Bald-faced Hornets are not docile, in fact aggressive. I'll find the Latin name for the locals, see if they match up.
Ah! My insect ID books aren't very thorough. Vespidae and large numbers of species.
We have several solitaries catching flies, caterpillars and spiders. Fun to watch.

 

[MrEd]

The most docile of the wasp family? They’re gentle, buzzing dollops that won’t harm you. Not like the wasps we get end of season when the queen has stopped releasing pheromones to keep her brood in order and they all fly off to munch on rotting cider apples and get drunk and lairy.

The need for an Epi pen is misunderstood. I had a seriously bad reaction to something, lips swelling, throat swelling, tongue etc. Plus massive hives all over. Epi-pen adrenaline is for very low, sudden, blood pressure drop only.

One nurse at the hospital suggested I should carry an Epi-pen because blood pressure drops sharply during the attack. My blood pressure hadn’t dropped, the other nurse said a big dose of speed might not be the best thing under the circumstances, might even have killed me.

err.. for anaphylaxis - which is characterised by rapid onset facial, mouth, tongue, or lip swelling with marked respiratory and airway compromise, very low blood pressure (due to the systemic response), fast heart rate and possible circulatory collapse - 1/1000 IM adrenaline is the drug of choice - any suspicion of anaphylaxis then adrenaline is needed - true anaphylaxis is a life threatening medical emergency. Adrenaline is followed up with IV anti-histamines (chlorphenamine) and high dose of IV steroid (hydrocortisone) to suppress the inflammatory response and IV fluids to increase circulating volume

A lot of people have severe reactions, which is one step down from anaphylaxis - steroid and anti-histamines would all be valid treatments in those situations.

i am an ITU/Cardio-respiratory nurse, and trained in ALS/ATLS. I see anaphylaxis more often than i would like, and even when you know what to do, its sh*t scary.
See attached Resus Council UK algorithm

 

[Nice65]

Yep, I had IV steroids and antihistamines, and symptoms of anaphylaxis. Sudden onset Urticaria caused by auto immune system attack. I did appreciate the nurse that said I didn’t need adrenaline. Actually turned out my thyroid was fairly fooked, autoimmune system bombing it for probably many years. Explained a lot to me that, lousy metabolic rate, often fatigued etc.

My reactions got quite extreme before I had a Lymphoma diagnosis. Kinda glad I had a nurse who knew what she was doing and didn’t bump me with a dose of adrenaline when that wasn’t the treatment I needed.

Adrenaline is a treatment just for anaphylaxis, nothing else.

 

[MrEd]

Adrenaline is a treatment just for anaphylaxis, nothing else.

Yep sudden onset urticaria does need anti-hist and steroids as first line treatment, not adrenaline

Also used cardiac arrest but then it’s a gesture and often doesn’t work.....

Only other time I have used it is as an infusion in sepsis patients who aren’t responding to noradrenaline very well - it’s a bit last ditch attempt then to :/