Monday 22 September 2008

Hornets 22/09/2008

This is the guard Hornet at the nest entrance, armed and ready
Thanks to Dave Newton "Hawk and Owl Trust member North Somerset group" for pointing out these beauties. Located not far from where I live, this is a Hornet nest that Dave and I stood out side and watched the comings and goings of, oh and we dodged the more aggressive ones. The pictures are really bad, this was because it was so dark under the trees, so treat them as a recording of what we found. I will return to the nest first thing in the morning and get some more pictures of them. This of course when they are less active in the cooler air. They are great insects, and to have them flying past your ear to get their nest really does make you freeze to the spot. The sound they make is the Insect equivalent of a Zeppelin flying past you. I'm totally fascinated by the social life of these creatures, in the top picture is one Hornet who is left on guard. I felt sure it knew what we were doing.
This pictures is one returning to the nest, which you can just make out in the background.

4 comments:

Jenny Holden said...

Cool beasties! I spotted one in the field with my sheep a few weeks ago so I'm guessing that there must be a nest around somewhere. Good to know that they are still surviving!

Chris Sperring said...

Hi Jen.
Thanks for the comment. We have had a few in the garden, I suppose they are from the same nest, and thats over a mile away!

Anonymous said...

The pictures didn't come out too bad for the circumstances. They are intimidating. Glad we got out when we did. they definately started getting bothered by us..

Chris Sperring said...

Thanks Dave. The ISO on the Camera was at 1600 which explains the grain. But these are awesome Insects and yes your right they deserved every bit of respect we had. See you soon Dave.