Can you take one with your hand next to it, so we can get the scale?
ASIAN HORNET ALERT.
- Thread starter Nealh
- Start date
Although his head would be more rugby ball shaped ......Can you take one with your hand next to it, so we can get the scale?
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The native hornet is a night flier as well the Asian one isn't it ceases after dusk.
Any one getting to close to either will be looking like John Merrick or even dead.
Any one getting to close to either will be looking like John Merrick or even dead.
In France the Pompier originally were tasked with dealing with AH or their pronunciation is Frelon Asiatique , there is a vid on you tube somewhere where they used a drone to survey /watch a nest and it was set upon. The AH is a ferocious defender of it's territory 5- 10m even against it's own kind , the drone was subjected to a stream of venom squirted by the AH. They aim for the targets face/eyes, when threatened it is said up to 90% join in the defence of a threat.
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The photo of the nest that I posted, is actually a dead one from last year. Oddly I spotted it for the first time just a few days ago, yet have been walking past it several times a day, and last year spent weeks working just a metre away from it. Now there is poor obs for you.
Native hornets are not aggressive unless you disturb a nest or cause vibration, common garden wasp species tend to be more aggressive and of a nuisance. They are very loud and fast in flight though and sort of scare the bejesus out of you.
Nealh a quick question for you.
As you know we have had a bees nest by our patio door for a good four years and so, and have always sat quite comfortably in amongst them, as they have always been super friendly.
For some odd reason in the last two weeks that has changed, and they are becoming aggressive, to the extent that we can't now go out of the door, as there will always be one or two that try to harass you back inside the house again. My wife has also been stung.
Obviously I have no intention of getting rid of them, but it would be good to have an idea of why they are now seemingly getting uptight with our presence.
As you know we have had a bees nest by our patio door for a good four years and so, and have always sat quite comfortably in amongst them, as they have always been super friendly.
For some odd reason in the last two weeks that has changed, and they are becoming aggressive, to the extent that we can't now go out of the door, as there will always be one or two that try to harass you back inside the house again. My wife has also been stung.
Obviously I have no intention of getting rid of them, but it would be good to have an idea of why they are now seemingly getting uptight with our presence.
Reason could be many Eddie, pin pointing the reason in a feral colony isn't possible unlike a managed colony in a hive.
Most commonly is it down to poor genes/cross breeding in the queens. When they re-queen , they will either swarm with the old queen and leave a new queen to emerge or will superscede the old queen and eventually bump the old one off. The new daughter queen will have 25 - 50% of the mothers genes the rest comes from the drones she mates with when on the wing , she will leave the nest for about an hour. Sometimes cross breeding with other sub species of Apis Mellifera, the hybrid queen then is no longer an F1 pure bred and is likely to be an F2 or F3 hybrid with sometimes bad traits arising from the bad genes she inherits via mating. These can be aggression/defensive behaviour, following and possibly stinging. Back in the colony her pheromones has a part to play in the colony temperament, any bad genes shows up when she produces the future brood she lays.
A colony that becomes queenless for what ever reason will become tecthy/agitated. If a new queen is taken by a bird during the risky time she is away from the colony whilst mating, this can leave the colony in serious trouble esp if there isn't a backup plan within the colony.
They may just feel threatened and are defending the colony/territory as to speak, wasps are about now and will try and plunder them and the larvae for the meat content as they will be raising.
They can be protective of collected stores or tecthy if nectar flow has dried up.
Perfumes, after shave ,deodorant's and hair products can also affect them and cause alarm to them as the chemicals used in these products mimic their own alarm pheromones.
Most commonly is it down to poor genes/cross breeding in the queens. When they re-queen , they will either swarm with the old queen and leave a new queen to emerge or will superscede the old queen and eventually bump the old one off. The new daughter queen will have 25 - 50% of the mothers genes the rest comes from the drones she mates with when on the wing , she will leave the nest for about an hour. Sometimes cross breeding with other sub species of Apis Mellifera, the hybrid queen then is no longer an F1 pure bred and is likely to be an F2 or F3 hybrid with sometimes bad traits arising from the bad genes she inherits via mating. These can be aggression/defensive behaviour, following and possibly stinging. Back in the colony her pheromones has a part to play in the colony temperament, any bad genes shows up when she produces the future brood she lays.
A colony that becomes queenless for what ever reason will become tecthy/agitated. If a new queen is taken by a bird during the risky time she is away from the colony whilst mating, this can leave the colony in serious trouble esp if there isn't a backup plan within the colony.
They may just feel threatened and are defending the colony/territory as to speak, wasps are about now and will try and plunder them and the larvae for the meat content as they will be raising.
They can be protective of collected stores or tecthy if nectar flow has dried up.
Perfumes, after shave ,deodorant's and hair products can also affect them and cause alarm to them as the chemicals used in these products mimic their own alarm pheromones.
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Up until about 11.00pm yesterday, I had thought that they had become chilled out again. Over the years, I have been stung by wasps, bees and bumble bees, broken bones, worn down my ankle bone in a motorcycle crash, had the usual tooth pain etc, but none of that compared to being stung last night just under one of my toe nails. In complete darkness, one of the bees took exception to me sitting in a deck chair. This was quickly followed by two further bees landing on my legs. Not a nice feeling when you can't even see them. Luckily I was already in the stage of leaping up, and managed to knock them off. I can truthfully say that the pain of that one sting, was nearly off the scale.
Back to being chilled out again, and letting us sit amongst them. I must admit that I would love to be able to paint the woodwork of the house sometime soon, and wash the cladding down, but can't see that one happening any time soon. The second photo shows the top corner of the door, and just how close that they are to us.
Not seen one constructed like that on a tree Eddie, you are wise to keep your distance. Though fairly docile away from the nest any disturbance, vibration or sign of a threat then they will defend it.
If you fancy seeing it, it is at the lower end of Wakehurst Place, with the access by the public footpath at the bottom of the land. If it wasn't for a sign warning the public about it, I wouldn't have even seen it.
I can always try to map it for you.
I know that many don't like hornets, but from my point of view, it was nice to see that they had left it alone.
I popped in the place to view a bench that I helped to construct last year.
This was far harder to construct and fit, than you might otherwise think.
