What is this mahoosive stingy thing?! - picture attached!

[whatcheekyfuckery]

This is what I found today buzzing around our porch Before I release it back into the wild, does anyone know what it is?
If it's a foreign killer hornet, maybe I should rather let it slowly suffocate? To give you an idea of its scale, please note the gin bottle and the matchbox...

A hornet

A hornet. Found a dead one under my kitchen cupboards. I was enormous

It not I

Do they really come that large?

Hornets can be massive, they're the only creature that I've met so far that makes me feel physically sick.

What shall I do with it?

Bruff thats no way to describe yourself!

Hornet. Nasty bastard.

Did you trap it with gin

That's humungous!

Good god kill the fucker
It’s makes me sick just thinking about that photo. I can’t look again.

do check if it's asian hornet before release

Definitely a mixture of fillers and photoshop. That’s not a natural shape at all. I would hate the other insects to see that and think that’s normal, it’s not. A lot of effort has gone in to that, but not every insect has the time.

No didn't trap it with gin, just thought the gin bottle would be a useful easily recognisable familiar everyday object to help give an idea of scale...

Thinking about it wasps apparently resleae a hormone when they die to alert the others to come and collect their body to eat
So Kill it far away from you and yours!

I was once stung by a hornet and it felt like a cigarette burn which went on for hours and my thigh swelled up like a balloon

@3luckystars

Da fuck

It’s not an Asian hornet, just a standard European one. Asian hornets are slightly smaller, and crucially, that backside bit that’s yellow in the photo above...that’s much darker on an Asian hornet.

If you do see a hornet and you think it might be Asian, though, please contact DEFRA.

I have had one buzzing around my vegetable patch today. Believe it or not it was bigger than that.

Murder it. Imagine a child being. Stung by that bastard. Only thing scarier is a cow-killer wasp

Wth? Just let it go

That is a queen European hornet. It is a beautiful, harmless insect and will only sting if it feels under attack.
It is very useful in that it eats all the nasties that attack your plants.

As others have said, that's a European hornet. Not one to worry about
Beautiful insects (and much less aggressive than their waspy cousins.)
Hopefully you've released her by now.

If it's a queen, I wouldn't release it anywhere near houses. Friends had a big hornets nest in their roof once which they noticed when a soggy patch started to develop on their ceiling. And then they really had no choice but to get it fumigated and removed.