Thanks for clarifying, I thought it was a bit far north even with climate change!No, that sounds just like a queen european hornet which is native to the UK and in my experience something to look forward to seeing and not at all aggressive. I was watering the garden last night with one hunting around my plants for a few minutes, lovely to watch and listen to.
If you have figs, they're more likely feeding on them. Wasps & hornets only hunt when there are larvae to feed & there aren't usually larvae at this time of year, which is why workers are very visible in the autumn, looking for sugar as they're no longer fed by the miela secretions of the said larvae..as there's loads of hornets about hunting the flies and butterflies on our fig tree.
I'm ever grateful not to be an insect.They then proceed to chew their wings off and take their bodies back to their nest.