What Did I See?

[wymberley]

Sorry, no photo.

First glance, dragonfly. But shape all wrong - big head and shorter/wider body. Couldn't make out the wings at all but suspect just one pair and now thinking hornet except (which also put paid to the dragonfly) there was no colours - dark brown. I really don't think I've seen this before. Perhaps a give away was its flight as over the (browned off) lawn it hovered with a vertically extended 'O' of about 6" in height - up on the left, backed off at the top and down on the right, coming forward again at the bottom before rising again - each forward was a little more than the top back so it slowly progressed over the ground. With no good reason am sort of thinking Asian Hornet. A good40mm in length.

Edited June 5, 2023 by wymberley

[Penelope]

5 minutes ago, wymberley said:

Sorry, no photo.

First glance, dragonfly. But shape all wrong - big head and shorter/wider body. Couldn't make out the wings at all but suspect just one pair and now thinking hornet except (which also put paid to the dragonfly) there was no colours - dark brown. I really don't think I've seen this before. Perhaps a give away was its flight as over the (browned off) lawn it hovered with a vertically extended 'O' of about 6" in height - up on the left, backed off at the top and down on the right, coming forward again at the bottom before rising again - each forward was a little more than the top back so it slowly progressed over the ground. With no good reason am sort of thinking Asian Hornet. A good40mm in length.

https://www.somersetbeekeepers.org.uk/asian-hornet.html

[jall25]

Female broad bodied chaser maybe ?

[wymberley]

6 minutes ago, jall25 said:

Female broad bodied chaser maybe ?

Nice one, thank you very much, think you may have sussed it.

[jall25]

1 hour ago, wymberley said:

Nice one, thank you very much, think you may have sussed it.

👍

We have a few up here and you described it how i sort of would hahahah

[chrisjpainter]

B-B Chaser fits the bill.

For reference, there's some serious confusion over Asian Hornet in this country. The ones that turn up and should be shot, killed, then shot again are Asian Hornets, Vespa velutina. This is actually slightly smaller than our own European Hornet Vespa crabro. The massive one is the Asian GIANT Hornet, Vespa mandarinia. This is a real beast of a hornet, but has never been reported in the UK.

 

 

@Penelope what you have there is the Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia. As you can tell in the photo, it's a right brute. But it's never been seen in the UK. Your photo comes from this link What Is An Asian Giant Hornet? | 'Murder Hornets' | BeesWiki, an American site warning of them as an invasive species in the US.

Edited June 7, 2023 by chrisjpainter

[JohnfromUK]

I have not seen an Asian hornet ever, but this year I have seen several native (European) hornets.  Until a few years ago I had never seen one, but I have seen 4 already this year. 

Odd fact:  I have had 4 come into the house in the past 2 or 3 years and I'm fairly sure all came in via the chimney.  Certainly two 'appeared' from the fireplace.  All these occasions were early in the season and I'm wondering if they were looking to nest in the chimney (which is unused at this time of year and only carries a gas fire exhaust in winter, so is not actively 'sooty').

[Aled]

JohnfromUK, that is really interesting as we have had exactly the same happen in our chimney, and 2 flew down the chimney a couple of weeks ago, and like yours they appeared from the fireplace,  1st time i've seen one for a good while then i see 2 in a week! 

[Penelope]

11 hours ago, chrisjpainter said:

B-B Chaser fits the bill.

For reference, there's some serious confusion over Asian Hornet in this country. The ones that turn up and should be shot, killed, then shot again are Asian Hornets, Vespa velutina. This is actually slightly smaller than our own European Hornet Vespa crabro. The massive one is the Asian GIANT Hornet, Vespa mandarinia. This is a real beast of a hornet, but has never been reported in the UK.

 

 

@Penelope what you have there is the Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia. As you can tell in the photo, it's a right brute. But it's never been seen in the UK. Your photo comes from this link What Is An Asian Giant Hornet? | 'Murder Hornets' | BeesWiki, an American site warning of them as an invasive species in the US.

Wymberly was asking if that is what he had seen. Posted so he could compare.

"With no good reason am sort of thinking Asian Hornet. A good40mm in length."

[JohnfromUK]

6 minutes ago, Aled said:

JohnfromUK, that is really interesting as we have had exactly the same happen in our chimney, and 2 flew down the chimney a couple of weeks ago, and like yours they appeared from the fireplace,  1st time i've seen one for a good while then i see 2 in a week! 

Thanks for that - it now seems fairly certain that they do come via chimneys.  I have had two almost certainly from the chimney in my sitting room, but the two others in the house both appeared in the same room with that chimney.  As far as I know neither of the other two rooms which have chimneys have had them come in.

[wymberley]

My problem is age and old eyes which don't now focus too well on something small and moving which is compounded by all things bright and beautiful do not always agree exactly with the pretty drawings in the books. The first impression is always best and as it turned out mine wasn't all that far off. However, all of the replies to my post - and thank you - have combined to give us a result.

[Windswept]

The native queen hornets are about at this time of year and often hunt around buildings. We get them going around our roof, flying in one hole and emerging some time later out of another. If we have our windows open they can come in, often hunt around the ceiling and then fly out. We've only had them nesting in our woodland. Lovely things to see.

[Penelope]

1 minute ago, Windswept said:

The native queen hornets are about at this time of year and often hunt around buildings. We get them going around our roof, flying in one hole and emerging some time later out of another. If we have our windows open they can come in, often hunt around the ceiling and then fly out. We've only had them nesting in our woodland. Lovely things to see.

And very, very painful if stung by one. I can still see the effects from a sting on my leg when one crawled up whilst I was out pigeon shooting in 2018. If I depress the skin close to where I was stung, it stays indented for longer than anywhere else, if I do the same.

[chrisjpainter]

7 hours ago, Penelope said:

Wymberly was asking if that is what he had seen. Posted so he could compare.

"With no good reason am sort of thinking Asian Hornet. A good40mm in length."

But what you posted isn't an Asian hornet, it's an Asian GIANT Hornet. The Asian Hornet only has a body length of 25mm, smaller than 30mm of the European Hornet. 40mm plus is into the realms of the Asian Giant, but we don't have (and never have had) those in the UK.

[wymberley]

Just seen on teletext news that owing to the temperatures on the European mainland insects are migrating here and 3 times the usual number of dragonfly sightings in Devon have been reported.

[ditchman]

im weird ...i love our home bred hornets.....always had one in my shed whilst messing about.....i used to sit still and it would "drone" about and end up landing on my hand.....it would have a crawl about ...take off.....inspect my face ...and off it would go....i always treated it as a gentle giant..