What the hell flew into my bedroom last night?

[1dayatatime]

So it was a hot night and I had the bedroom window open when I was woken around midnight by something big and buzzing bashing around.

I am guessing it's a hornet but the bloody thing is over 3cm long and it took half a can of fly spray and 20 minutes to die.

Below it is a wasp for comparison of size.

I don't know what that is, but FUCKING HELL IT LOOKS TERRIFYING.

There has been concern about the arrival of Asian hornets into Europe and the UK. I think we are supposed to report sightings to somebody somewhere, but I can't remember. Will google.

Wow that’s massive!

I always thought they didn’t fly at night

Yes looks like a hornet, bloody nasty devils they are!

I was stung by one once and my entire leg from knee to hip was red for six weeks and the sting sight was bigger than a pound coin and sooo itchy. Worst sting/bite I’ve ever had!

Some sort of hornet
If you think it is an Asian hornet you should report it
https://aphascience.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/hunting-for-the-asian-hornet/

Is that not a honey bee below it?

Yes the warnings are from RSPB. I can't link, but if you google Asian Hornet UK, it all comes up.

Looks like a European (native) hornet. Amazing creatures but not in the house! Asian hornets are smaller and have yellow legs. A good blog is here: https://aphascience.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/hunting-for-the-asian-hornet/ which includes identification information.

Why did you also have a spare dead wasp to hand ready for size comparison? 😅

Based on the pic I'm saying European hornet although I'd still be sitting myself if I saw that swarming inside.

I think it might be a European hornet though. Either way it looks nasty.

Agree with PP. That’s a European hornet. Yellow legs.

Still awful to have one in the bedroom.

Omg 😳

This cracked me up! 😂

We had one fly into the bathroom last night. Shooed it out of the window and the bastard flew straight back in again!

A hornet? - if around at night it was probably the less aggressive European hornet rather than the slightly smaller Asian one.

https://i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article55602.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Great-British-Non-native-Species-Website-Asian-Hornet-guide.jpg

We had European hornets nesting in our bay window fascia - they ate through the wall and invaded the house!

Jesus. I have a pretty bad wasp phobia and honestly that picture has made me feel funny all over. Where do you live so I know to stay very far away!!

OMG. What???
Where do you live?

Not an Asian hornet :) just a bog standard English hornet.

Holy God that is the stuff of nightmares 😳

Hornet - they sound like a bloody light aircraft in close quarters 😱

It's a European hornet. Why would you kill it? Why not just let it out?

Where are you based OP? They were first spotted in Tetbury, Cotswolds around 2017/2018. I saw one in the village a week or so before the official warning. It was huge! I wished I had photographed it but didn’t want to get close. It was on the side of a house right in the centre of town.

It's definitely not a wasp!

OP can you not just let /chase these things out again? Pollinators are pretty important creatures!

Absolutely no need to kill most insects.