Hornet in a wasp nest?

[Jericha]

Sorry for the location of this post, couldn't see a wildlife thread.

There's clearly a wasp nest in our garden, for the past two weeks or so there's been a steady stream of wasps going in and out a single point of entry in an old sleeper making up one of our borders. This morning I noticed a hornet, absolutely huge in comparison to the wasps milling around, poking around the entry hole to the nest. I came inside to google if it was a hornet and by the time I checked back it's either flown off or gained entry to the nest.

I don't know much about wasps or hornets - will the hornet take over the nest or eat the wasps? Any ideas?

The Wildlife Trusts says this of the Asian hornet

”Preying on insects, including honey bees and other pollinators, it is a significant threat to bee colonies, and other native species in the UK. They are most likely to be seen near bee hives, preying on bees defending the hive.”

If it is an Asian hornet (are you in the S of England?) it should be reported

I think the native hornet (huge and brown/yellow rather thank black/yellow of other wasps including the Asian hornet) will predate other wasps. But there may be some new Queen wasps around which are also much larger than the workers.

I agree with the above. Hornets are extremely efficient predators and the Asian hornet can decimate bee hives without even breaking a sweat.

If you can, ID it and report to DEFRA. Basically, blobby black lines on the abdomen and it's European. Straight lines and it's Asian.

If you're not keen on having the wasps around, yes, you can call an exterminator, otherwise let it be... if they survive, no biggie, if the hornets wipe them out, also no biggie :).

Happy to answer questions via pm

If you're sure it's the Asian hornet, there is also an app:

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.ac.ceh.hornets

Thanks both. LookIng at photos it must have been either a standard hornet or possibly a hornet mimic hover fly.

Just to update in case anyone's interested, it has come back and this time managed a photo. INaturalist has confirmed it's a European hornet.

I don't think that's a European hornet, the eyes are wrong. Iirc wasp eyes are crescent shaped. I think it's a hornet mimic hoverfly. Good picture though.

That's definitely a hoverfly and nothing to worry about 🙂

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Definitely a very handsome fly. You can easily tell by the huge eyes and single pair of wings.

Thanks all! How funny it is hanging around the wasps nest. Maybe it just really wants to be one

@Jericha Your photo is of a female, probably looking to lay eggs in the nest. Larvae live in wasp and hornet nests.