A hornet appears to have moved into my kitchen. And I've abandoned ship

[BlueStringPudding]

Years ago I got stung 14 times across my back and shoulders when walking along a rather overgrown footpath near Tringford. It was the weekend before my first ever boating holiday on the Broads. Where I got repeatedly bitten by mozzies. There wasn't much of me left that wasn't red, lumpy and itchy. The difference was scratching a bite was satisfying. Scratching a sting had a delayed reaction before the stinging sensation hit big time!

 

Anyway, anyone got any idea what sort of wasp or hornet I've described?

[Timleech]

Here's the hornet we had in our bedroom yesterday:-

 

 

and against a DL size envelope which I was using to persuade it to go back outside:-

 

 

-though it's body was curled there so doesn't really show its size very well. I estimated it at just over an inch long, though it 'seemed' much bigger

 

Tim

[patty-ann]

I dunno but if I were you I'd move, let them have that stretch of canal, you can be brave then theres just fool hardy and facing waspy things in my view is foolhardy. Hope you are Ok, be big brave soldier

[BlueStringPudding]

can't move. It's me mooring!

Here's the hornet we had in our bedroom yesterday:-

 

 

and against a DL size envelope which I was using to persuade it to go back outside:-

 

 

-though it's body was curled there so doesn't really show its size very well. I estimated it at just over an inch long, though it 'seemed' much bigger

 

Tim

I'm positive about the size of my one because I know the width of the spaces between the slats on the blinds. This git is definitely a good bit over two inches long.

[patty-ann]

take a holiday???

[MtB]

Put a sign up, saying: "NO HORNETS"

 

That should sort it out.

 

 

MtB

[Starcoaster]

Hornits can't read English, doofus! you have to write in HORNISH.

ZZZZZZZZZZZno ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZornits.

[Timleech]

 

I'm positive about the size of my one because I know the width of the spaces between the slats on the blinds. This git is definitely a good bit over two inches long.

 

Well, I hope it's not an Asian Giant Hornet, which is that sort of size, they sound really seriously nasty but not the same as the Asian hornets which are spreading around the European continent. Those, I have read sur le internet, are actually a bit smaller than the native European hornet.

 

Interesting in that Wiki article the defence Japanese bee colonies have developed against giant hornets.

 

 

 

 

Tim

[Henhouse]

can't move. It's me mooring!

 

I'm positive about the size of my one because I know the width of the spaces between the slats on the blinds. This git is definitely a good bit over two inches long.

In 30 years working in the woods I have never seen a hornet much over an inch and a half. So it does sound like a foreign invader, or we go back to wood wasp

[MtB]

Hornits can't read English, doofus! you have to write in HORNISH.

ZZZZZZZZZZZno ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZornits.

 

Your FACE is a doofus....

[tree monkey]

In 30 years working in the woods I have never seen a hornet much over an inch and a half. So it does sound like a foreign invader, or we go back to wood wasp

what did you do, on the saw or harvester?, never did any forestry work i dont honestly think i could have stood the pace

[Henhouse]

what did you do, on the saw or harvester?, never did any forestry work i dont honestly think i could have stood the pace

Anything which involved a chainsaw or machinery driven by various Fordson Majors. Originally we would winch out to hard roads, or handball on to stake trailers, until the advent of forwarding trailers.

 

 

Harvesters were considered a bit high tech, and expensive.

 

I'm now the last man standing out of an original 14 of us working 1700 acres. The new management are now bringing in contractors with harvesters, so my days are numbered. Hopefully I can last another three years, and then either buy or build a boat and pack it in.

[tree monkey]

Anything which involved a chainsaw or machinery driven by various Fordson Majors. Originally we would winch out to hard roads, or handball on to stake trailers, until the advent of forwarding trailers.

 

 

Harvesters were considered a bit high tech, and expensive.

 

I'm now the last man standing out of an original 14 of us working 1700 acres. The new management are now bringing in contractors with harvesters, so my days are numbered. Hopefully I can last another three years, and then either buy or build a boat and pack it in.

estate rather than contract work then?

 

i have always fancied having a go on a harvester, i watched a tree scissor in operation a couple of years ago, that was worth seeing.

 

so go on Husky or Sthil? being a climber i started with sthils and always seem to prefer them, although i have a baby 357 as my back up now

[Henhouse]

estate rather than contract work then?

 

i have always fancied having a go on a harvester, i watched a tree scissor in operation a couple of years ago, that was worth seeing.

 

so go on Husky or Sthil? being a climber i started with sthils and always seem to prefer them, although i have a baby 357 as my back up now

It's actually a piece of ex commission woodland which was sold off and set up as a charitable trust.

 

I've never owned anything other than Husqvarna. Originally 254's. Which were good, and would last about 30 months working very hard.

 

Been using 365's for over 15 years now. Totally bullet proof reliability. In fact they start so well that I've never had to replace a pull cord on one. I now have a new one at about 5 years, and the old one becomes the back up.

[tree monkey]

It's actually a piece of ex commission woodland which was sold off and set up as a charitable trust.

 

I've never owned anything other than Husqvarna. Originally 254's. Which were good, and would last about 30 months working very hard.

 

Been using 365's for over 15 years now. Totally bullet proof reliability. In fact they start so well that I've never had to replace a pull cord on one. I now have a new one at about 5 years, and the old one becomes the back up.

i have a very old 026 and of course the classic 020T, with the husky as a back up, as i don't work on the tools any more, i expect these will out last my needs, still don't stop me lusting after new kit though

funny thing is i started out with an 026 and 020T went through a couple of newer saws and since had the opportunity to buy these 2 second hand and jumped at it

[Phil Ambrose]

 

It's not my hand, it's an image found on the net. (See the credit!)

 

But yes I do play the guitar.

 

Well 'play' is perhaps a bit of an exageration...

 

 

MtB

Mike surely you're not admitting to being a one chord wonder (like me)

LOL

Phil

[luctor et emergo]

Will you two get a room?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nb Innisfree]

Someone from our council came to get rid of a wasps nest, she said she prefers hornets as they are far less aggressive if you keep still, but wasps attack whether or not you stay still.

 

Hope I never have to test the theory.

[Phil Ambrose]

Hornits can't read English, doofus! you have to write in HORNISH.

ZZZZZZZZZZZno ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZornits.

Hey Starry, what goes Zzub Zzub Zzub?

 

 

 

 

A Bee flying backwards. Boom boom

Phil

[Henhouse]

I don't think my heart is in it like it used to be. The Fordson days were seriously hard work, but they were also FUN. Battling out through 15 inches of mud in mid February when it was well below freezing.

 

We literally couldn't fell it fast enough to keep up with demand. All the processing of stakes and rails was done at the roadside. Peeling, pointing and splitting. The big stuff went to mill for pit props or feather edge.

 

I would regularly work 6 days, and then go in on a Sunday just to fire up the six pot Fordson and pull a couple of loads out.

[tree monkey]

I don't think my heart is in it like it used to be. The Fordson days were seriously hard work, but they were also FUN. Battling out through 15 inches of mud in mid February when it was well below freezing.

 

We literally couldn't fell it fast enough to keep up with demand. All the processing of stakes and rails was done at the roadside. Peeling, pointing and splitting. The big stuff went to mill for pit props or feather edge.

 

I would regularly work 6 days, and then go in on a Sunday just to fire up the six pot Fordson and pull a couple of loads out.

never mind my heart my body isn't in it like it used to be, although the joy of being in the top of a big Oak on a frosty morning, looking over the fields, magic

 

coming home smelling of Oak and 2 stroke, again magic

 

I never got to play with the big kit and i wish i had the chance, there is something deeply satisfying about being in the woods all day, looking behind you and seeing the results of your work, sadly most of mine has been fell to waste, with occasional firewood

 

and of course that fell that worried you all day, the one you were not too sure would work, going where it should, again magic

 

there is also that excitement when felling the real big stuff, hearing the crack, watching the top move stepping back and feeling it hit the ground through your feet.

 

its a good game

[Chop!]

I've had a few hornets appear on our butty, as I don't want them or wasps to take over a vacated bees' nest (that we have between the wood partitions) I whacked them and then chopped them in half to be sure. They were about an inch and a half long (before they got the 'Chop'!!!!!)

[stickleback]

Here is a hornet

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635154/Pictured-Killer-Asian-hornet-bigger-coin-took-10-minutes-die-sprayed-fly-spray.html

 

Note the brick red colour where a wasp is black. Also they have a very deep and loud buzz, like a motor scooter (which is probably where a Vespa got its name from...) I had one in my bedroom a couple of summers back, and squashed it; it was bigger than a fifty pence piece.

[Athy]

BSP, no one has yet mentioned a common or garden fly swatter - cheap to buy, effective in use.

 

We once had a wasps' nest in our garden when we lived in Heanor. I bought an aerosol tin of specialist wasp killer, gave the nest (which was an underground one) a long blast and ran like hell back into the house. It worked, but I cannot remember the product's brand name.

[Timleech]

Here is a hornet

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635154/Pictured-Killer-Asian-hornet-bigger-coin-took-10-minutes-die-sprayed-fly-spray.html

 

Note the brick red colour where a wasp is black. Also they have a very deep and loud buzz, like a motor scooter (which is probably where a Vespa got its name from...) I had one in my bedroom a couple of summers back, and squashed it; it was bigger than a fifty pence piece.

 

That's a terribly muddled and melodramatic article. I suppose what you'd expect from the Mail

The hornet was '6cm long' as well as 'bigger than a five pence piece' - a five pence piece is less than two cm. diameter.

It goes on about deaths from anaphylaxis from hornet stings in France, my wife very nearly died from an ordinary social wasp sting in the UK, before I knew her, and people do die from them.

 

Tim