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A Hornet in the house!

I've only seen one or two hornets round my way (Somerset) in the last 10 years or so, which is a shame as I'd like to see more. I quite like wasps, they're entertaining to watch going about their business and I like their 'I don't give a shit about you' attitude. I've been stung a couple of times and it's not that bad at all (though obviously I'm not allergic etc), just a regular sort of sting that diminishes to little more than nettle sting level after 15 mins or so. In fact I'd much rather be stung by a wasp than bitten by a horsefly as those remain itchy for days on end - seem to be fewer of those around so far this summer. The wasps come and graze on our larch cladding to build their nests from, leaving little nibble trails.

Loads of dragonflies around this year of various sizes and colours, must have been a good summer for them.
 
There have been loads here lately....every few years they set up camp in my trees or roofspace. I've put up fake nests in the past which seemed to deter them (they are very territorial). Lately if they come in the house I just point at the open door that they entered through and tell them to go......oddly it seems to work.
You should change your username to WaspWhisperer
 
George, regarding your allergy, an amusing story.

When he was a teenager my brother's dog disturbed a wasp nest on the farm, and he and the lab came running home pursued my a swarm of very angry wasps. He had multiple stings, but was fine if a bit sore. Years later, when he was in his forties, he was stung by a single wasp on the back of the neck whilst doing some window repairs at our mother's house. He went downstairs and said something a bit muddled to mum about the sting and how he felt a bit odd. He sat down and said that she had better call an ambulance. She managed to get a piroton into him before his throat closed, and there were a tense few minutes before an ambulance arrived, fortunately extremely quickly. He has been very wary of wasps ever since, and always carries an epipen on his belt.

Last year he needed a pee in the middle of the night, and so as not to disturb the household he didn't turn the bathroom light on, and sat on the loo. In mid-flow he suddenly aquired a sharp, burning sting right on the end of his old fellow. He leapt up, hollering, shocked and confused, wife and daughters came rushing in. The wasp must have been spending the night on the underside of the seat. His wife put him into the car and drove him straight to the hospital, where his now very swollen schnickel caused great amusement amongst the medics. They intercepted the anaphalaxia quickly, but he remained very uncomfortable for a day or two.
 
I can't add to the hornet story, but the comments about horseflies and wildlife resonate with me.

I attract horseflies - I must be a delicate flower, of some kind. My golfing buddies snigger at me when I'm applying insect repellent, but then quickly ask to use said spray!

My relatively small back garden seems to be a haven for spiders. I love them. They grow rather big, and fascinate me, especially this time of year. I ought to do more reading on the spider subject, but love to see them going about their business.

I try to abide by the sentiments of not disturbing wild life unless absolutely necessary.

The other thing that upsets me is the amount of wildlife road kill I see. I live near Sherwood Pines and Clumber Park/Sherwood Forest. Lots of rural roads, and lots of dead birds, badgers and squirrels. I do despair of us as humans, and the carnage we create.
 
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.

Hmm, I rescued one from the kids paddling pool as it was drowning. Once in my hand and clear of the water it stung me before it flew off. Then there are the ones that continually try to drink my beer. It's just not on.
 
This time of year any wasps flying around are waiting to die anyway - their job for the year is over, the nexst is about to disband. So at this time of year they are not doing any of their 'good' work - so if you if you are being bother by a wasp now, do not worry if you deal with it terminally.

When wasps are on their good phase earlier in the year, you rarely see them - they are on a mission!

But you still not want a nest in the house - we have had several over the years. And awkward ones in the attic (which is a walk in storage job) - finding a next building up in amongst the spare bedding is not nice or we had one in the greenhouse/shed where they decided to next in the pocket of not much used garden coat - until the day I tried to put it on!
 
We had not long moved into our house in Swizzieland, when the girls came in and said, "There's an ENORMOUS insect in the room!" I went into the room, thinking that, to little people (as they were then) a lot of things looked big - to be confronted by what appeared to be the insect equivalent of a B-52, emitting a deep baritone hum. I'd never seen a hornet before, so I went out to find a bowl big enough to catch it, but when I got back it had gone. We put fly screens on the windows and doors as soon as we could, universal Downunder, but then exceedingly rare in Swizzieland.
 
How do people feel about dragonflies? I'm an unabashed fan of them.

I like their big eyes, iridescent colours and transparent wings.

c9eb5f035067588068973b7686881608385796f3.jpg


And their lightning-fast reflexes.

giphy.gif


They've been around for ~325 million years, though they've shrunk since those early days.

meganeura-size.jpg


And they could be doing better: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jul/25/dragonfly-sanctuary

Joe
 
How do people feel about dragonflies? I'm an unabashed fan of them.

Me too. A couple of years ago I was cycling along the local canal path and one flew next to me for a surprising distance just a foot or so away from my bars. Probably there for around 15-20 seconds. Amazing thing, such stunning colours.
 
Peter,

Have you seen dragonfly larvae - monsters!

I know, it's the stuff of nightmares, but dragonfly nymphs eat a shit tonne of mosquito larvae so I'm willing to have the bajesus scared out of me for that essential ecological service.

Joe
 
Dragonflies detect up from down by UV, if you make them fly through a tunnel with UV lights on the base then they fly upside down.
 
How do people feel about dragonflies? I'm an unabashed fan of them.

I like their big eyes, iridescent colours and transparent wings.

c9eb5f035067588068973b7686881608385796f3.jpg


And their lightning-fast reflexes.

giphy.gif


They've been around for ~325 million years, though they've shrunk since those early days.

meganeura-size.jpg


And they could be doing better: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jul/25/dragonfly-sanctuary

Joe

I love them. A few years ago a decent sized one landed on me, on the left side of my chest, as I was walking the dog. It stayed on me for hours, all the way along the canal, into the pub, back along the canal and back home. It looked like I was wearing a big, supremely made, brooch.

When I got home, I showed it to the kids, to a gratifying amount of 'oohs', and took it off, with some difficulty, they have hooks on their feet, and put it on a big leaf in the garden. It hung around for a few minutes then took off like a mini Chinook, and headed off in the direction to where I had found it, or more correctly, where it had found me.
 
Rob,

Yeah, they sure are neato insects. Check out this slow-mo video (jump to ~0:40).


Joe
 
Rob,

Yeah, they sure are neato insects. Check out this slow-mo video (jump to ~0:40).

Joe

I remember being amazed by a similar shot in the first Attenborough series Life on Earth, which rewrote the book on how nature documentaries are done.
 
I can't add to the hornet story, but the comments about horseflies and wildlife resonate with me.

I attract horseflies - I must be a delicate flower, of some kind. My golfing buddies snigger at me when I'm applying insect repellent, but then quickly ask to use said spray!

My relatively small back garden seems to be a haven for spiders. I love them. They grow rather big, and fascinate me, especially this time of year. I ought to do more reading on the spider subject, but love to see them going about their business.

I try to abide by the sentiments of not disturbing wild life unless absolutely necessary.

The other thing that upsets me is the amount of wildlife road kill I see. I live near Sherwood Pines and Clumber Park/Sherwood Forest. Lots of rural roads, and lots of dead birds, badgers and squirrels. I do despair of us as humans, and the carnage we create.

Don't be fooled by badgers being road kill. The badgers are more than likely being killed by farmers and dumped at the side of roads to look like road kill. shocking as this may seem it is true and was investigated a few years back on a TV programme. Sadly, I can't recall the name of the programme but am sure there will loads of info on the web about it. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense as have you ever seen a live badger near a main road at any time of day or night? I haven't, but have seen countless foxes, deer, rabits, hares etc.
 


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