You wouldn't want yo be stung by this

[poledark]

Saw this beastie today..

 

 

Den

[Guest Jan V]

sharp picture, Den. What sort of stinging critter is it?

[Elton]

What is it with people and scary pictures tonight? I HATE stingy things. What the blinking flip IS that thing?!!

[gozzer]

What is it with people and scary pictures tonight? I HATE stingy things. What the blinking flip IS that thing?!!

 

A Hornet I believe.

 

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/wasp.htm

 

Ooops sorry wrong link, try this one.

 

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th4a.htm

 

John.

Edited October 13, 2008 by gozzer

[Elton]

Is it going to kick the living daylights out of that wasp in a minute?

[Clifftop]

Nice capture Den.

 

 

Cheers Fred

[Vagabond]

Nice pic Den

 

Normally I come across hornets about once every five years, but have seen three this year (and I haven't fished as much as usual because of awful weather.) I also remember seeing hornets quite often when I was a kid, so perhaps hornets were vulnerable to DDT and the like (as they feed on other insects they concentrate such substances) and are now making a comeback.

 

Anyone else seen more hornets this year?

[chesters1]

na its just a wasp in-flight refueller great picture Den

[Ken L]

There's loads of them where my parents have a caravan. We used to fish a small pond there as kids and the hornets would mug the bumblebees feeding on the yellow iris. They'd kill them, tear then to pieces and carry the thorax back to their nest.

Most impressive.

If you look closely at the front legs, you can see that a lot of them have tattoos !

[poledark]

I got about 5 minutes of good video of this thing, it was drinking the little drops of sap on the leaf. Quite amusing when a wasp got to close, it fended it off with one foot/claw. Didn't seem to want to attack the wasps though.

 

Den