In praise of Hornets .....

[Fab Foodie]

I've spent last week in the Moscato Vinyards near Turin, below the balcony of our apartment (an old converted farmhouse) was a log pile containing a Hornets nest. Daily we saw them going about their business, around the eaves of the balcony and beyond. Big buzzy bastaards, but not one bothered us, not one. Morning noon and night we dined on the balcony with fresh fruits vegs smelly meats and cheeses and not one Hornet came to investigate, but as soon as so much as a crumb went on the table the Waspyfeckers were there immediately and took no time getting stuck in to our plate-fulls and being frickin' unpleasant..

So whilst Hornets have a fearsome reputation due to their hefty sting, I've become hugely enamoured by their pleasant general demeanour and avoidance of human nosh and conflict.
Their nests are also spectacularly elegant.

 

[tyred]

Hmmm....always fancied one of the posh Minis

Didn't know they could fly or that they lived in nests.

 

[waspyfecker]

Nuff said.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Nuff said.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

they are great... they used to nest in the roof of our last house. But there is one problem... they are drawn to light and having 15-20 of them flying around a room was a touch terrifying the first time it happened, or the drumming at a closed window (but curtains open) was somewhat annoying with them swarming over the pane of glass. Also the nest used to hum loudly so we always knew when they were back, but it was a beautiful nest to look at (from a distance)...

 

[Profpointy]

[QUOTE 3226420, member: 259"]I had some hornets get up my trousers in Hungary. I had to run away as fast as I could while simultaneously debagging myself. My legs had massive lumps on them like golf balls for days after.[/QUOTE]

They're mad those Hungarians, you should have stuck with ferrets

(sorry, couldn't resist - must have bloody hurt)

 

[Fab Foodie]

@Fab Foodie .......wasps are pretty good as well.

Have you seen this on the BBC website? And it happened in a furniture shop in Leeds........was it @vernon or was it @colly ?

Ha!
Well maybe they have their uses .... but imagine if it had been a Hornet's nest that was disturbed ....

 

[slowmotion]

Apparently European hornets' stings are no worse than a wasp one and they are less aggressive. It's the Asian hornets that are the ones to fear.

 

[vernon]

@Fab Foodie .......wasps are pretty good as well.

Have you seen this on the BBC website? And it happened in a furniture shop in Leeds........was it @vernon or was it @colly ?

Buzz off.

Hive a cast iron alibi.

It must have been Colly.

 

[Poacher]

As @SatNavSaysStraightOn says, they're attracted to lights. The one and only time we've had an electric hookup while camping was at the Inside Park near Blandford Forum (a damn fine campsite!), 'cos it was free leccy in mid/late September. There was a veritable invasion of hornets getting in under the valance and buzzing round the 60w light bulb. It pains me to confess that I killed a score or so of them before I realised that they were innocuous, or at least non-aggressive. I can also report that TV sets tend to have a great deal of condensation in the electronic bits over the course of a cool September night, and react violently and terminally if you switch them on to watch breakfast news.

 

[Ganymede]

I can be an untidy fecker at times and I once picked up a black bra that I had cast aside the previous evening and put it on.

OWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Hornets like to hide in dark places overnight...

We get them hibernating in the beams in our (very old) house so this one had obviously crept out for the day then crept into my discarded lingerie. I also found one hiding in a pair of black tights that were hung on the line. Very lucky that that one got routed out!

 

[Profpointy]

I had a wasps' nest in the attic. Mentioned it to the Mrs saying I'd need to get a can of the spray stuff to get rid of 'em.
Was forbidden to do so - "we're getting the pest control guy from the council".
So she phones the council and the lady said "why don't you just get a can of that stuff from B&Q", so back to "Plan A"

So, clear line of retreat, no nearer to the nest than I need to be, ready to spray and run !
Done - run, down ladder, downstairs, heart rate 200, and out the house - give it 10 mins, then go and see.

Carefully walked back upstairs, no buzzing, up ladder, no buzzing - wasp nest wrecked on the floor.
No dead wasps - no on home at all in fact.

After all that, I didn't know that wasps bugger off and die in the winter and the nests are empty.
I've seen the same thing done in summer though, and they don't half get cross.

 

[colly]

@Fab Foodie .......wasps are pretty good as well.

Have you seen this on the BBC website? And it happened in a furniture shop in Leeds........was it @vernon or was it @colly ?

Rocky.................I cannot tell a lie........................................it was @postman

 

[postman]

Sorry to tell you all.I was in Alcatraz at the time.So not me Guv.

 

[Hitchington]

Praise indeed!!!