Saw a male Emporer Dragonfly and a Hornet, yesterday.

[difflock]

The hornet, the first I recall seeing, & I cant figure out what else it could have been, about 40mm long was taking a great interest in the fresh split sticks, but finally alighted on the mudguard of the tractor, quite a magnificent creature(as long as there is only one!)

Then during a breather at the pond, endless smaller reddish dragonflies, and one humengeous blue one, which appears to have been a male emporer.

Bloody thing would not let me get a photo though, with its super-fast zooming about.

WOW!

Life is good.

[elder]

cool dragon flies are amazing to watch

[SteveA]

The hornet, the first I recall seeing, & I cant figure out what else it could have been, about 40mm long was taking a great interest in the fresh split sticks, but finally alighted on the mudguard of the tractor, quite a magnificent creature(as long as there is only one!)

Then during a breather at the pond, endless smaller reddish dragonflies, and one humengeous blue one, which appears to have been a male emporer.

Bloody thing would not let me get a photo though, with its super-fast zooming about.

WOW!

Life is good.

 

Could the hornet have been a wood wasp?.... they grow to quite a size and have a big spike coming out of their tails. Wood wasps have been attracted to our Larch barn; lots of freshly sawn timber for them to lay their eggs in.

 

cheers, steve

[10 Bears]

Yes, my thought was wood wasp straight away. See this: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/48637000/jpg/_48637243_woodwasp.jpg

 

Really big, scary looking beasts - but totally harmless to humans. The female just has a large ovipositor (looks like a stinger) and has the black and yellow colouring. This would explain the interest in the split sticks. Also the fact it just landed and sat on your mud guard, they often just land somewhere and take in the scenery, before flying off sounding like the insect equivalent of a Lancaster Bomber.

 

Hornets on the other hand, have the rather disturbing habit of attacking your head...

[difflock]

Ok, prob a woodwasp then,(phew!) ah did wonder if it could really be a hornet.

[SteveA]

Ok, prob a woodwasp then,(phew!) ah did wonder if it could really be a hornet.

 

I once caught a hornet in a tub, walked a few fields away and let it go.

Ten minutes later it came back to the same place I'd caught it and the bugger started attacking me.

Wood wasps are similarly scary looking but fortunately totally chilled out.

cheers, steve

[timbernut]

I had a serious run in with some hornets a couple of yrs ago, six stings and a 12' leap off the cord stack, not nice. Think I posted pics of nest on another hornet thread on here.

Came back from a long w/end a month or so ago and the horn (as my granddaughter calls em) had taken up residence inside shed door so I had to eradicate (genuinely sadly as I quite like em) within another week there was another nest:

Now also eradicated :

When I squirted the wasp powder in there was an angry roar like a miniature v8 firing up and they all came out in even succession like fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and fell about 30' away all within a yard or so of each other🙁