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A Hornet in the house!

Dear Gintonic,

Please do not get me wrong. There is no way I would do anything against a Hornet if it were outside and minding its own business, but if it comes in my dwelling and flies straight at me, then I'll do what it takes to eliminate the threat.

I have not killed a wasp for decades. Just as for a bird that flies in, open the windows fully and persuade it to fly away.

But once you have had an allergic reaction to a sting, you become much more careful.

Best wishes from George


Dear George

Please, I urge caution with your allergy. Beware the internet savvy hornet, reading your posts here, they may decide to mount a stealth attack, whilst you lay under the thin single sheet on these balmy nights.

much lovings

G&T
 
So the EU version disguises itself as a wasp and the asian version is kind of orange with irregular markings and small. But the one I took a pic of is not there. Not stripey, large yellow spots on its back, massive.

It was probably a queen of the European variety or perhaps a giant wood wasp which is larger than both types of hornet.

When we got rid of the hornet nest in our chimney the queen vacated it and it was the biggest insect I’d ever seen in my life. Much larger than her hive hornets.
 
Dear Jon,

Were you the JonR off the Naim Forum years ago?

That’s me :)

I reckon that statistically the chances of another invasion by Hornets is tiny on any given day, even here is the wilds. I emptied the Henry this morning, and the experience obviously was too much for them. I identified them as the British variant of the European Hornet, so that is as expected in Herefordshire, away from the South Coast. The colours are almost entirely yellow [and dark brown or nearly black] with similarities to common wasp colours rather than the redder European variant or the Asian.

The idea of peeving a Hornet while try to catch it and making it angry does not appeal to me. So I used the long pipe on the vacuum cleaner.

Well, all that being said, I can only admire the way you dealt with the insect when it came in. As much as I’d hate to find a hornet inside my own house, my only aim would be to let it go safely.
 
We have hornets every year in the attic. There is a nest between roof tiles and it’s been there for many years.
When one of those giants - about 3 cm long, European variety - get into the house I kill it. I knock them out in the air with a shoe then finish them off while they are lying on the ground.

But they are not aggressive in fact.
 
It was probably a queen of the European variety or perhaps a giant wood wasp which is larger than both types of hornet.

Almost certainly the European Selmayr hornet. Spiteful buggers, those ones, creep up behind you in plain sight.
 
When I become PM I will be implementing a wasp / hornet program to phase them out. I am sure the food chain won't suffer much more than a wobble. No more than Brexit will cause anyway.
 
When I become PM I will be implementing a wasp / hornet program to phase them out. I am sure the food chain won't suffer much more than a wobble. No more than Brexit will cause anyway.
You know how well things go when humans take it upon themselves to mess with nature. Hornets and wasps are extremely beneficial when it comes to eating destructive insects. Their only “Crime” is defending themselves against stupid humans.
 
Stinging insects, dogs, snakes, spiders, anything creep-crawly - you name it - in the UK it is 99.99% learned behaviour with 0.000001% of common-sense and less than that of fact to back it up.

FOR FOOK'S SAKE LEAVE THEM ALONE, FREE TO GO ON THEIR OWN HARMLESS WAY. DO NOT MOLEST OR IRRITATE AND THEY WILL DO LIKEWISE.

Hornets in particular, if anyone did but get close and personal, are absolutely staggeringly beautiful creatures, the most wonderful gingery chestnut at a distance and wonderfully patterned close up. Placid beyond measure until provoked.

Unless anyone in the UK has a GENUINE allergy, there is absolutely NOTHING to fear of anything, except a dog on the other end of a lead to a total moron.
 
A few weeks ago I had a nest of wasps in the gutter near a bedroom window, they never came in but I didn’t like it, I wanted to keep the window open and I didn’t want a problem. So the pest control people were called and they used some long reach tube to fire poison into the nest. End of, they were all dead and gone in a few hours.

But what was most memorable was that immediately after the poison bomb had been dropped on the nest, the wasps were clearly outraged and formed a swarm, obviously to attack the invader. And just seeing that swarm was disturbing, scary. I suspect we’ve been programmed by evolution to fear a swarm of insects like that.

It was interesting how much the pest control people hated the wasps, they were clear that they were agressive animals.

A few years ago I had an area of the garden cleared and paved, and they dug up a hornets’ nest. They were fearless, vigorously attacking the digger. I remember we cleared the area on a Friday and left it till Monday, but they persisted being active in the area for at least three or four days - someone said they were hunting to find their queen.
 
I have recently moved to rural derbyshire, near to Ashbourne and there has been some huge hornets around here - they have are about an inch an half long and have orange bodies! I had one in the cottage and just use a tupper ware tub with a lid to trap it, take it outside and release it safely. It depends how scared you are of these things. I have no fear at all of them and have been stung by wasps, bees etc. I wouldn't want to get stung by a hornet but equally i'm not frightened by the idea either. My neighbours have had more visit them but they chose to kill them with some kind of spray, but I just can't do that and feel it is unnecessary...

Having had a conservatory at my previous home i got quite accustomed to trapping and releasing wasps, bees, butterflies, moths and occasionaly a dragon fly. The latter was amazing as it just gripped my finger, like it was a branch, while I walked it outside and let it go. Those things close up look incredibly 'alien', they really are something

ATB

Gingerbeard

Could have been a horntail sawfly? Apparently they've been in the UK for yonks but I saw my first one a couple of years ago and it scared the sh!te out of me! :D

36291038761_77aa65f513_b.jpg
 
A few weeks ago I had a nest of wasps in the gutter near a bedroom window, they never came in but I didn’t like it, I wanted to keep the window open and I didn’t want a problem. So the pest control people were called and they used some long reach tube to fire poison into the nest. End of, they were all dead and gone in a few hours.

Why oh why oh why?
This is nonsense.
Last week I visited an outdoor greengrocers, covered with wasps on the soft fruit, and the lady was cursing them and suchlike.
I put my finger under one and it crawled along my hand - she was horrified. Fair enough, she didn't want them eating the fruit, but they are HARMLESS until provoked.

LEAVE THE FOOKING THINGS ALONE. IGNORE THE INSANE COMMENTS OF THEY WHO KNOW NOTHING BUT KILL, KILL, KILL. IGNORE ALL OUR WILDLIFE, it will be the better for it.
 
Could have been a horntail sawfly? Apparently they've been in the UK for yonks but I saw my first one a couple of years ago and it scared the sh!te out of me! :D

36291038761_77aa65f513_b.jpg

First saw one of those in the 80s, so big its wings made more of a flapping noise than a buzz. And it was really fast. I ran into the house, screaming like a pansy.

Since learnt they don't even sting. Non-stinging insect will not be phased out under the new regime.
 
I agree with all the comments along the lines of live and let live ...

UNTIL, they come inside and show signs of aggression ...

I tend to find wasps quite amenable to being helped out of the window with a piece of card, but hornets are more dangerous in their sting, if reportedly less fast to anger than wasps. As I am severely allergic to biting and stinging insects I would view a hornet inside my dwelling as a severe threat unless it flies back of the window it came in through without my attempting to help. I would not attempt to catch one in a jam jar in case I missed and peeved it. Simply not worth the risk.

I would never kill a wasp, bee or hornet outside, but if they don't play ball inside, then self-preservation will always come into play.

I do remember as a youngster hedge cutting with one of those old fashioned cutter-bar hedge trimmers [mid-mounted on a Massey Ferguson 35 tractor] cutting right through the middle of a wasps nest in roadside hedge. As Soon as it saw it cut open the the furious inhabitants flying out. I knocked the PTO off, and found top gear and went for a two mile drive flat out [12 mph] round to home. that bit of hedge did not get further attention that year, and the wasps found a new home quite quickly. Strangely the wasps did not chase me as they could surely fly fast than a farm tractor could go in the mid 1970s!

The old fashioned cutter bar trimmer used before the flail type, most resembled a six foot long industrial scale Black and Decker as used in gardens. you do not see them used anymore ...

Best wishes from George
 
Good afternoon all,

This has been a most informative thread! I live out in the sticks and have seen only one Hornet.

I'd just set up a "Midi System" and heard a loud buzz. I thought I'd messed up a connection. It was in fact a beautiful Hornet. As previously described, this dark orange and black gentle giant was minding his or her own business.

Wasps though? I strongly believe they are Stella Artois swilling, Sun reading thugs.

I was given a useful tip to deal with these aggressive thugs. A Solution of Vegetable Oil Water and Washing Up Liquid mixed and poured into a "Repurposed" Kitchen Spray Bottle. This Solution is used only in emergencies.

The Oil gets onto their wings and they cannot fly.

Extremely effective.

Kind regards, Stuart.
 
Funny little story of me in my first school aged about six.

Anyone who knows Malvern will know the small piece of open land on the right as you head down from Great Malvern to the Link on the right of the Worcester Road [A449] as you approach the Link Railway Station [in the Worcester direction] ... where we played in breaks from class time in those days.

As a child I had an un-ending fascination with all animals and insects and absolutely no fear at all.

One of my tricks was to collect a bumble bee from a buttercup by cupping my hands round the bee pollinating the bloom. The bees never panicked for me and would walk up my raised fingers and fly away. One day I was caught doing this by a teacher who was both horrified and terrified! I was never stung by a bumble bee ...

Best wishes from George

PS: That probably is nicer than the not infrequent stories of little boys ripping the wings of flies. ...
 
Throw away the insecticide bombs, get yourself a hand lens, some patience, inquisitiveness, tolerance and imagination. Embrace what is around you, do not aim to destroy it, no matter what it throws at you.

Insects have been here a HELL of a lot longer than us...………...
 


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