Allotments 4 All
Produce => Wildlife forum => Topic started by: Mrs Ava on April 27, 2005, 17:50:46
-
No photo though :-\, forgot to take my camera. I have been googling to try and name this mystery flying critter but am having no luck so I thought one of you clever lot are bound to know.
Okay, imagine a long wasp, and I mean about 1 and a half inches long! However, rather than yellow and black stripes, it was more orangey brown. It was on the ground and at first I thought it was dead, but I reakon it must have recently hatched from something because it suddenly decided to have a fly, in my general direction!!! AAGGHH. Anyhow, composed myself and watched as it buzzed aggresively whilst sitting on one of my shallots. It was HUGE, had big brown eyes and big feeler/antena thingys. I don't want to meet one again thanks. Any ideas??
-
Did it have a hard shell like body EJ? When we lived in Reading many years ago we came across some monster flying bugs which were stag beetles. They were enormous with large wingspans. We were amazed to see them actually fly with having such big bodies. I was petrified of them, and have never seen the like up here in the North East, - think they like the tropical South. :) busy_lizzie
-
Possibly a queen wasp, they are hatching out at this time of year.
#
Regards
chris
-
Nope, I know stag beetles first hand. When my nan and grandad lived in Morden, their back garden backed onto the River Wandle and we would spend many evenings watching and listening to them flying from the trees.
QUEEN WASP, fills be with fear and terror! I shall have to google and see what she would look like. There was no crown though.... ;)
-
Try localhoney.co.uk they have a section on wasps.
Never tried wasp honey, wonder what it tastes like????
Honey I suppose?
Rambling again
regards
-
It sounds like a Giant Wood Wasp Emma. One of our LARGEST wasps which can be mistaken for a hornet!!!
Oh yuk, dont want to see one of them again!!! Saw one last summer, thats why I sort of know it!!!!
:D :D
-
Sounds like a wood wasp to me too... we have quite a few around here, and I have to admit I have a soft spot for them.
Got any coniferous forest/woods near you?
-
Hi EJ,
I could swear dodged one of them a couple of times last summer. Massive, gruesome beastie it was. It reminded me of a B52, I think it had the same engine and wing span. I ran for it so I did, not at it you understand - AWAY from it!
Anyhow, I explained the description of this beastie to my knowledgeable father-in-law, 1.5 inches - bright red/brown yellow and he said it was a SAWFLY, harmless but evil looking.
Have a wee looksee...
http://www.gardensafari.net/english/sawflies.htm
There's one close to the kind I saw on this link but not half as scary or colourful. :o
-
Quinny that site made me want to run from my screen.a wasp lover I am not!
EJ we were in a pub last year (what us??!! ::)) and they had a nest in the roof of the most enormous wasps I have ever seen in my life! Had to bring home the one we killed to show the kids, I swear it was the size of an eagle...........OK maybe a slight exaggeration, but it was bigger than any regular queen wasp I have seen. Someone at the house of libation muttered something about these new wasps had come from Europe. I don't ever want a nest of those, the publican said their buzzing kept him awake it was so loud!! :o :o (i think they are looking for world domination!)
-
It could be a Hornet. See link bellow.
http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th4a.htm
-
Or maybe a Maybug? See link bellow.
http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/May%20Bug.jpg
-
Last summer, a huge wasp (I was guessing it was a queen) kept coming in through our open living room and kitchen windows. I was worried they were nesting in the roof, but never round them. The other evening we left the window open (it was quite warm) and in she can again. (we didn't notice until Mr Aqui saw her crawling along the arm of the sofa right next to him :o)
-
YUCK! I am going to have nightmares! It defo wasn't a Maybug, and altho a hornet looks similar, they just don't seem big enough, and also orange enough. This one really was more of a deep orange/brown colour. I shudder to think of it. Wish I had my blinking camera. Will take it tomorrow just in case I come across another! Not a wood wasp either. No coniferous woods near us, typical natice deciduous forrest and farmland surrounds us with lots of nearby ponds. I shall keep hunting, and feel free to keep suggesting scary bugs for me to look at, which I do, through my fingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o
-
Andrena Haemorrhoa would be my guess Emma Jane. It's a large mining bee which appears early in spring. They play a major roll in pollinating fruit trees. The queen is really quite large and a definite orangey brown colour. Looks more wasp-like than beeish if you know what I mean. Mind you some true, wild Honey bees are also orangey and don't look much like bees either - again more wasp-like.
If it's not one of them then I'm stuck. Hope you manage to get a piccie.
-
There is one, odd, wood wasp that can live in deciduous trees, and it is orange/black, up to 40mm with long antennae... Urocerus gigas.
Also Scolia maculata (20-40mm), antennae are a bit stubby though, looks like cross between a bee and a wasp.
And Rhyssa persuasoria (Ichneumon fly) 18-35mm, plus the ovipositor can be another 30-35mm (looks like a stinger, but isn't), which is long and slender, browny orange...
???
-
I don't care what it was as Long as they don't take a fancy to my plot. :o :o They sound horrid. Never Mind EJ they might turn out to e goodies and you'll be thankfull for 'em. (here's hoping !!)
-
UUrrgghhh, this bug huntil lark is horrid! Makes my stomach turn looking at some of these wasps and bees! Anyhow, nope, still not the right thing. This wasn't hairy. Had a proper armour like skin. yuck! Oh well, shall take my camera every visit from now on.
Here's hoping Baggy!
-
Okay dokey. Went into shed today, reached up to grab something, and what was sitting on the ledge above the door, one of those HUGE scary wasp like things. Sent my darling brave superhero Ava to the plot straight after work tonight, and he caught it in a net, stuck it in a jar, and brought it home to look at!!!
Here it is, dead I am relieved to say. Now, tis more yellow than the first one I saw, however, we have been comparing it to wasps and hornets and as you can see, it has orange/red eyes and legs.
Update, whilst I have been typing, Ava has googled and decided it might be a European Hornet. It's sting was like a hypadermic needle!!!!
-
Double yuek !
-
I'd agree with the hornet diagnosis too. Vespa crabo? Got the lovely yellow abdomen with teardrop markings. A fearsome beast!
-
:o :o :o
-
OMG I never want to see one of those in MY garden!!!! :o
-
that is so strange i have just found the exact same wasp in my house, they are enourmous, about the size of a huge dragon fly!!!
-
A queen wasp looks like an ordinary wasp except that it's a bit bigger. Andrena is a bright orange wasp the size of a common wasp, but they tend to be around earlier than this. The onewhich started the thread does sound like one of the large wood wasps, and yes, that pic does look very much like the European Hornet. They're not as ferocious as they're made out to be, at least not towards us.
-
I had a Hornet in my greenhouse the other day,l thought it best to wait for it to leave first ;) we do get a few around as we live near a wood,but l can't remember seeing much red on it,but they are huge >:(
BTW,Hornets are protected l think. Oops ;D
-
Bloody hell! :o
Never has a 50p looked so small!! :o
-
:) Hi EJ, I think it is a hornet, take a look at this link http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm it looks the best match. ??? Had some a couple of years back when in hampshire ::) hope this helps :)
-
I don't care how harmless and unlikely they are to sting me.....I have seen a few now, and I run and duck and close my eyes tightly every time! :o
-
;D Don't blame you one bit ;) who knows what might happen if one did sting you :o :o :o
-
I was gonna say hornet as heard something on the radio about it(SCR) but if they were hovering near me then sorry but splat! ;D
Protected by whom? Not me I am afraid.
The buzz tone of flies gets me, dont know what it is but goes right through me, weird. (and splat)
-
I had one of these in my workshop yesterday - terrifying when they dive bomb you! Definitely not a queen wasp - I get several of those each spring - I think they over winter in the roof space and come out when it warms up. I try to splat them - each one gone is one less nest in the vicinity.
It is not a woodwasp - they are very obvious, about 4 to 6 cm and with a long ovipostor.. I'd go with the queen hornet, although "mine" didn't seem to have so much red. However, having trawled search engines the Vespa Crabo hornet thing seems closest. And I don't care if it is a protected species - so am I and if it comes back in my workshop it will get sprayed! Can't have a nest of those in my garden - too big.
Andrew
-
I think I got a pic in my book that matches. I'll try and photo it and put it on for EJ to look at. (Through her fingers.)
-
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/Kenkew/DSC00467.jpg)
Hornet. Vespa crabo. About 1 1/2" long and 2" wingspan.
-
EJ: It would help if you could pick it up and hold it by the wings for a better pic......? ::)
-
??? I've got these near my lottie. It's a Hornet for sure.
Mine sound like a low flying spitfire, dog is giving them a wide berth. Thank goodness. He got stung by a whole nest of wasps once. I had to tie his mouth up and tie his legs so I could pick out the wasps. It was the worst sight ever. He was biting everyone, so had no choice with tying his mouth up. Luckily he did not have a reaction to the stings. He keeps away from them now!!
-
Hornets aren't normally aggressive, thank goodness. Your poor dog must have been terrified, glad he's over it now.
-
We had a dog once which used to enjoy killing wasps, which he caught as they tried to escape through the window. He handled them really carefully to avoid stings, but I doubt whether he was ever actrually stung as he was such a coward he'd never have gone near one again.
-
;D ;D ;D HE HE!!
Last laugh is on me EJ, I have these nesting in my roof space. OMG I heard the dreaded drone today at 6.30am, just got back from walking the dog. Followed hornet flight path, it hovered and hovered, then landed and into the roof.
Worst thing is I have a funny shaped roof, 300 year old flint and brick cottage extended over the year and yes, you've guessed this is in the most inacessable bit. Do I get the Council bug man out or do I live with em?
-
Chances are you have lived with them for years without knowing it. Unless they become a danger I'd let them be. We all have to live somewhere.
-
Live with them. The only possible problem is that when the nest collapses in late summer or autumn (I'm not sure what the time is for hornets) then you might get them coming into the house if there's a window nearby. Flyspray will soon deal with them if they do. Otherwise, Apart from that, they do loads ofgood and no harm at all.
-
Do not going camping near Kiddie there are tonnes there my husband almost sat on one and totally freaked out when it rose out of the grass like a harrier jump jet and buzzed so loudy that you could see it vibrating. Thankfully never seen one since.
-
:) Thanks guys. Have only been in the house since 28th Feb!! But they could have been here years, I don't speak Hornet otherwise I'd ask.
I also have a bee colony nearby, there's been hundreds of them on my philadelphus. My hanging basket storeage and potting bench is right under the bush, they don't even give me a glance. All I can hear is buzzzzzzzzzzzz. I'm hoping they will go up the lottie when the beans are in flower.
-
Where's the colony? If your philadelphus is producing a lot of nectar, and it sounds as though it is, they could be coming from a considerable distance, as they have an amazing ability to ferret out the best sources and guide more and more foragers to them.
-
Hi. Hear a buzzing this morning in my bedroom - which I thought at first was a motor scooter going past my house (I'm near a road). Then I looked up - and saw what appeared to be a very large queen wasp. Which I sprayed / swatted. And then photographed. And I would post the picture - if I could only work out how to do it!!
Andrew
-
Murderer. You just ridded the world of millions of pollon collectors. On your knees...25 'Hail mother queen bee of the world'.
-
It wouldn't have been a queen bee though, you don't find those alone unless they're on a mating flight, and those are too high to be swatted. It's too late for a single queen of any of the 'normal' social wasps, but it could have been a Cuckoo Wasp, which lays its eggs in the nest of the Red Wasp.
-
Saw another one on the plot today! For goodness sakes! Approaching half a dozen sightings by me so far this year, and that is a whole 6 tooooooooooo many!
-
:) Another one yesterday, trapped in the greenhouse, between the netting and glass, netting is outside. Managed to release him, her it?
Not too much bother they don't seem to get too angry!! Neighbour commented that she had killed one in the bedroom and where were they coming from. Have seen them going in to the roof void again, but only one at a time and only one or two a day so it may be a new colony.
I have another philadelphus in the front garden, that has just started flowering and has even more perfume. Good job I'm not scared of bees etc.
-
Or maybe a Maybug? See link bellow.
http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/May%20Bug.jpg
Thanks for this link. My back garden suddenly has lots of these and I've never seen one before. They make the most amazing noise - we have to go indoors to continue our conversation ;D
-
(http://www.oobydoo.net/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/normal_p1010006.jpg)
Two Inch long massive ORANGE queen wasp
Mike
Oobydoo.net
-
Looks like a hornet. The British ones are nothing like as bad as they're painted. Some of the overseas ones will wipe out a beehive (with maybe 50 000 bees) in no time at all, but none of them are any threat to humans.
-
One good thing though is that apparently European hornets are fairly docile and more so than than the large European wasps. Thats a nice specimen and quite impressive......
-
Saw one today "dead" in my waterbutt, I think you saw a Giant Wood Wasp "Uroceras gigas" not a wasp but a Sawfly & completely harmless. Took it home to photograph it to ID it and it came alive (before I found it was harmless). Found out more about it at http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/pmag/Nof_website1/species/creepy_crawlies/other/pages/gwwasp.htm
Regards
Plot 102
-
OOOHH!! found one on my plot yesterday!!!!
it was huge!!! :o
i am far to new to deal with big scarey monsters like this one.
what is a european hornet thingy doing here anyway??
( i refuse to consider myself european) and do they live alone or is there a nest of 'em somewhere nearby?....shudder.. :P...
Tara xx
-
hehehe. They sound like small aircarft coming into land when they are flying around! I believe they are soppy really and will only sting you if you are bothering them......not much chance of that as I can normally be seen running as fast as humanly possible in the opposite direction...not that I am scared, no of course not, I would just hate to antagonise the poor beast!
yeah....righto Emma, you big brave girl you! :o
-
Hi all. I'm new to this and found you when I was looking up giant wasps on the net!!! I've just been attacked in the woods by a whole bunch of them and one of our dogs got stung and I got stung on the arm and it really hurts. We were just walking past and they came flying at us out or nowhere. I ended up with about 5 of them clinging to me and like I said, one of them stung me. They were quite hard to get off as well. My neighbour had to hit it 2 or 3 times to get it off. A truly scary experience!!! We ran off and they actually came after us as well!
Sue
-
You obviously managed to disturb their nest, or maybe something else did, and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. What were you and the dog doing at the time, and what did they look like?
-
HI,
I don't know if anyone's touched down on this point or not ( I'm not in the mood for 3 pages... ;)) but this wasp/hornet you've found might need to be reported to the RSPCA because it is known that their is a large foreign wasp that is appearing here in Britain that is attacking and feeding upon our smaller native honey bees!!!
I'd email them the piccy if I were you EJ, best to be safe on this one...
Cheers,
Jeff