Hornets in my bird box :)

[paltandsepper]

I'd never as much as seen one before. Let alone heard one, they're so loud! And their buzz is very very low, I can't think how to describe it. When I first heard one fly past my window I actually thought someone was using a power tool nearby.

Well Mummy hornet flew into my kitchen a few weeks ago (my god she was huge!). I closed the door to the rest of the house, opened the outside doors and left her to it and she was soon gone (thankfully did not decide to nest in my kitchen).

Then a day or so later I saw her crawling into my bird box. Fast forward a few weeks and there's a few of them appearing, they keep coming into my conservatory of an evening. Fascinating creatures and I can see their nest in the hole of the bird box, just looks like a wasps nest really, cylindrical, paper-mache-like.

I do have a question, will I disturb them if I use my compost heap, which is directly underneath the box? I don't believe I will, I am not tall enough to be in their flight path to and fro, there's roughly 2-3 feet (I think!) between the lid of the compost bin and the bird box.

We are lucky to have a lot of blue emperor dragonflies which mostly feed on wasps but will happily take hornets if they are around. They are absolutely huge.

I would love some dragonflies! Do you have a huge pond/stream in your garden? I have a small pond but I had a smaller one at my previous house and got the occasional dragonfly. Nothing here yet.

Nope, but there are quite a lot of ponds and streams nearby. It’s woodland and pasture all round here so very little spraying and insects seem to do pretty well compared to most parts of the country. We also have hummingbird moths which are AMAZING.

When I’m out cycling on the forestry roads dragonflies will often fly alongside just pacing me, often for quite a long way. It’s fascinating behaviour. They can easily keep up at 30kph.

I love hornets. From experience they are not as aggressive as wasps, if you disturb them then they will head butt you (bump into you head first) rather than sting.

We have a wasp nest in the garden and so far they haven’t been an issue but I am a little worried that they will start coming in the house in a few weeks.

I had a similar experience as a teenager. I was minding my own business, walking along Torquay seafront (near Debenhams-as-was for those who know the area) and one just dived at me and stung me on the hand!

I didn't see another one until earlier this year when one flew into our bedroom but flew out again and we haven't seen any more. They are HUGE. They aren't meant to come into houses so I am glad we didn't see one again.

Generally speaking they are much more docile than wasps though.

I love those! I was so so angry with my friend a few years ago as I filmed some on his bush. Next time I visited, he'd cut it down! This was around about the time that Nat Geographic were requesting to notify them if any were spotted 'Oop Norf' . I was fumming fuming!

I live in a village with a country park nearby, woods on one side and farmer's fields on another, but not much by means of water bodies.

I have a lot of wildlife using my pond. I spotted an earwig yesterday that really pleased me as I know how many of these have been eradicated due to pesticides. I have an ant colony that released their new queens and fertile males yesterday, and a lot of bumblebees. Let's hope my pond gets some dragonflies.

I shall look forward to autumn then! 😆
They like rotted fruit apparently. So I shall try to somehow get a pile of that to put in the garden so they leave me alone. 😆

I see your 'Hornets in my bird box' and raise you 'Drowned mouse in my watercress bucket'.

I was growing on some supermarket watercress in order to add it to my pond (apparently it help to clear nitrates and reduce green water problems). But I unthinkingly left the bucket near a ledge which evidently allowed a mouse to peer over the top and covet the watercress - and then fall in.

I'm so upset that I didn't see it sooner and rescue it. It looked so alive, as if it were just treading water. I've moved the bucket to a safer place now of course.

Aww that would have upset me too. So easy done though, you weren't meaning any harm.

Hi - I'm in France too and have had hornets loads of times. I've got a vine that grows up the side of the house and they like the grapes as they get ripe and I swear that they get tipsy - they can't seem to fly straight and bump into each other. However, be careful as they can stray into open windows and sleep in washing baskets etc (painful experience here) - also shake out clothing and check shoes - they do get a little more aggressive in autumn - I'm not sure why, but generally if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. One time we had asian hornets in a hollowed out barrel in the garden - they are nasty things with bright yellow heads and any other hornet that went near the barrel got their heads cut off with their sharp antenna thingies. Needed the exterminators for those ones!!

Yes, I am very glad they aren't Asian ones!

I think most species of wasp get more aggressive in autumn because (unlike bees) they are just basically evicted from their hive. And they are used to working in a community for food etc and now they suddenly have to fend for themselves. Not much food around and they're starving. I try to leave scraps at the end of the garden for them and in my old house I had a Japanese something? Bush which they loved the berries of.

I am betting they would get drunk on fermenting grapes! 😆

They do have jaws, that snap sideways and act like teeth.

I'm not in France, that was a PP, I am in the North of England near Yorkshire

Is it? The person who got stung definitely did have the sting wound get infected quite badly but maybe that was just bad luck then. (Also, sincere apologies. I know there is something seriously wrong with my sentencing structure but it is rather late and I'm just procrastinating hanging up the washing.)

Op you sound lovely. I hope you and the hornets have a v happy and peaceful time together. 🙂

Haha thank you, I have been disappointed that I haven't seen one for a couple of days now! I was sitting in my conservatory for a while last night but nothing. I am going to have to find out more about them. And once I am (more than!) certain they've gone I am going to open the bird box and see what the nest looks like.

I didn't spot anything wrong with your sentencing, It's a discussion forum not an academic paper

Edited to add yes, I just searched again and apparently the sting has a lot of painful venom, but any actual infection is either bacteria already on the skin or bacteria entering through touching, scratching the sting site. I imagine hornets can transmit bacteria 'normally' as in any animal can, too so it does sound as if they were just unlucky!

We had this! Yes like a horror movie, they sounded lik someone throwing stones at the window!

So apparently (some extensive googling tells me) a hornet's sting does not actually contain more venom, but rather it contains a neurotransmitter that makes pain receptors signal quicker, meaning the sting feels more painful. I am becoming something of a hornet geek (I have always loved and being fascinated by insects, to be fair).

Same.

Bees are actively encouraged here. Wasps and hornets totally exterminated anywhere near the house or outbuildings.

I am so glad I am not the only one that thought that !

Ack. My 'bird box' is clenching at the very thought. So much worse, even, than having a thrush take up residence.

I was using a lot of leeks in my cooking recently and learned that if you plant the white part (that you wouldn't normally use) you can just stick it in the earth. Their flowers have attracted a tonne of bees, so that was a nice little discovery

I am realising that this is one of those times where I SHOULD have let AI write my OP title😆

Loving this thread, thank you OP and everyone with positive things to say.

It’s a nice antidote to the one about being terrified of spiders and which chemical was best for killing them.

I would have an exterminator remove, you risk them coming into the house if you leave the windows open.

I got stung by one last week, i cane home late, opened the windows as it was hot in the house, it must have been attracted by the light, it flew in and went crazy, banging itself off the bedroom side light id put on. It was so big at first I thought it was a moth, when I got closer I realised it was a huge hornet.

So I calmly switched the light off, leaving the room, unfortunately I stupidly didn’t shut the door fully and it went into the hall, when I came out the loo it flew into my hair.

i could hear it buzzing close to my head, so bent over and was shaking my head and screaming, my husband came rushing up, it then flew out of my hair and stung me on the back, between my shoulder blades.

We then went downstairs, left the windows open, put the lights off, and about half an hour later I went to go to bed, went upstairs, into the bathroom, put the light on, and shut the door, just in case, and it was in there, came at me again. I heard it before I saw it. Fuck me I ran.

ir eventually left and my back was sore for ages, even now a week later it’s itchy and scabby,

get rid, they are not to be messed with, seriously, get an exterminator in.

Hornets and wasps are very useful for pest control, and I wish we had more of them and less inclination to use pesticides. Even if you don't put pesticides on your plants literally, they're often bred with pesticides in them (which is why I try to usually grow new flowers etc by seed despite it being a right faff)! They're also pollinators. They're doing me no harm.

I despise things like that.

Humans are meant to be intelligent! Genuine phobias aside what good do we think a lack of insects/arachnids/true bugs will do for us? They're the lifeblood of the earth.