Wow – what a beautiful creature.

Found its way out without intervention, thankfully, although they don’t phase me.

Very special sighting – don’t see them very often!

Arrived at work to find one one the window in the workshop. It was huge. It had got stuck on some web and was clearly not especially happy about it. It was squirting what I assume was its sting venom which was dripping down the glass. Had to trap it and take it outside. I was very brave. It was HUGE. And really quite cross.

This one didn’t seem cross – it just didn’t want to be in our conservatory!

Apparently they are not aggressive unless you threaten them or their nest – and their sting is not life threatening (unless you are allergic).

Lovely creatures!

[edit] Pretty sure this was a female from its size and colour.

Christ, how did it get through the door?

I spotted one making a making a nest in the garage this week, so whacked it and the nest with a stick with and ran very quickly.
Shame, but a nest at head height that I’m going to disturb on a daily basis just isn’t going to work.
Had to fix the hole in the garage roof where I whacked it though.

We have big doors!

Lovely aircraft, too – Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown (what an amazing man!) apparently thought very well indeed of the Sea Hornet.

[edit] 50,000€ fine for that in Germany, Ian!

Hornets are gentle souls, very unaggressive, and will stop wasps nesting nearby.
Worth keeping!

Um…depends on the species. The Japanese/Asian one is aggressive and invasive, and seems to be spreading to the UK. I would certainly destroy any nest of those I found in or around my house.

and seems to be spreading to the UK.

If you read the daily mail it is.

If you read the daily mail it is.

Independent and Mirror were the top two google hits for me, but perhaps the search results depend on which websites you tend to visit…

Independent and Mirror were the top two google hits for me, but perhaps the search results depend on which websites you tend to visit…

Ah yes 2 very reliable sources then.

Think yourself lucky it was only one. Every summer I find nests in my dormer bedroom window meaning a local bloke coming out to spray them and £50 down.

Still cheaper than council contracters to do it!

So they’re not actually here yet then?

Carolyne Liston, chairman of the Norfolk Beekeepers’ Association, warned Asian hornets are a ‘very, very aggressive predator’ and said they could ‘come here on the wind’.
She said: ‘They can absolutely decimate colonies and we are concerned that it is going to come in on someone’s caravan who has been travelling in France.’
UK beekeepers have been sent email alerts by Defra asking them to be on the look-out for the menaces.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3048312/Killer-hornets-making-beeline-UK-Fears-two-inch-long-insects-left-six-dead-France-travel-Britain.html#ixzz3cPFiftgj
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

So they’re not actually here yet then?

No they aren’t. In fact even us professional pest controllers have been advised to leave any Asian hornets we come across alone and to call Defra. In France they get dealt with by firefighters who wear far more protective equipment that a standard bee suit and even then four of them died last year. Its more than likely they will end up here eventually, perhaps even this year. I attended a talk about them given by an expert earlier in the year. The audience was all pest controllers and at the end of the talk there was total silence in the room. Asian hornets are scary.

The European hornet is a beautiful creature and really rather docile. Just don’t upset them.

Just had a Hornet in the conservatory

I’ve just had a Magnum in the front room 🙂

This big bugger visited us yesterday, we get loads in our neck of the woods each summer, look scary but never seem aggressive or annoying like wasps

Big Dave, now I’m going to say they aren’t all that bad! I mean, lots of Asians manage to live in close proximity to them, and only a handful of people get killed each year (allergic reactions can probably happen much the same with ordinary wasps). We had a lot round our house when I lived out there, and I did get stung once (cycled past a nest, yes it hurt and my arm swelled up from shoulder to hand for a couple of days) but they didn’t come and hunt us down or anything. Bet it’s more dangerous to ride a bike 🙂

The one on my workshop was definitely grumpy. It was a beautiful looking beast though. Managed to get it out without harm to me or it.
Saved a large bumble bee yesterday too which had fallen into the river Avon. We were kayaking down the river near Warwick so scooped him up and let him dry out on the deck of my kayak. Then he flew off. He was pretty big but quite chilled too.

Ahh…my knowledge of flying critters isn’t strong so I saw a hornet in my garage a couple of days ago then!

Dozey bugger that I am thought it was a big fat queen bee or something. Anyway I grabbed the GT85 I was looking for and just left it on its own. I should have felt privileged and paid more attention (or at least took a pic for the STW family)!

Rock on

Big Dave, now I’m going to say they aren’t all that bad!

The problem will come from when they do arrive here and people think that they can treat them like wasps and try to deal with a nest with over the counter stuff. Like all wasp species they are fine if left alone but if you annoy them to the point of them swarming the sheer number of stings you would receive can quickly lead to death by toxic shock. The Asian hornet is generally considered much more aggressive than the European one, plus its nests can contain thousands of them whereas a normal UK hornets nest will contain at most 500.

All I know is that if I find a nest I’ll be straight on the phone to Defra as they will need to know if there are any fertilised queen stages present.

Impressive creatures, Hornets, make me think of attack choppers with that deep droning noise they make. I can’t bring myself to kill wasps, let alone hornets, because of their killing off a lot of garden pests, but I might change my mind if Asian Hornets turn up in large numbers, if their habit of attacking bee colonies is correct.

Was visited by one of these a few years back.

We had a few pine trees near the end of the garden and there was fresh timber out on the lawn, so I guess it got attracted by the smell. Certainly got my attention, beautiful thing.

Any idea what that is, dannyh?

Ichneumon fly? Certainly a lovely creature.

Wood wasp

It is called a Giant Wood Wasp. Very impressive when you see one.

Another visitor – managed to photograph her this time!

I love the noise wasps make when they’re gathering wood for nests. Must have jaws like an hss drillbit.

In a human-dominated environment, you’d think that looking basically like winged evil is anti-evolutionary- we like bunnies and bumblebess rather than flying sharks with knives coming out of their bum. But they are cool. We’ve got a dead birch tree at the bottom of the garden that hornets seem to like, not sure if we’ve got a nest this year though, haven’t seen many.

Heard a buzzing behind the blind a few days back. Peeked thru to see this giant beauty. Trapped it in a glass to let it go, and compare size to a 5p piece

*Edit bah img fail. Anyway it buzzed and crawled around the glass a few times then I heard a tapping noise. It chose a spot near the edge of the glass and then used it’s jaws to begin cutting the paper towel, starting on the right and heading methodically left. Impressed, I snapped a few pics and let it free from the window. Both pics here

Jesus. If that thing came into my house I’d want to be in the next time zone.

(fixed your photo for you)

Pretty docile things really – just flew around a bit looking for the way out. Glad she found it without intervention on my part!

Good idea to get a photograph with some scale in the picture – mine have no scale, sadly. She must have been the best part of an inch and a half long though.

I love the noise wasps make when they’re gathering wood for nests. Must have jaws like an hss drillbit.

I had to remove a wasp nest from our garage roof this morning. It was above the insulation, but I found it by the sound of them munching their way through the insulation and the surrounding wood, it sounded like somebody eating a bowl of cornflakes it was so loud!

I’d quite like a few more wasps around to remove the rough bits from our new fence, but in the garage just above the door is, alas, not the best place…