Hornet Vespa crabro
The Hornet is our biggest Yellow Jacket. It is an impressive wasp, mainly black with yellow stripes. But the stripes on head and thorax are reddish brown mainly. The first part of the abdomen may also be partly reddish brown. The Red Wasp often has a partly reddish abdomen as well, but it is much smaller and the stripes on thorax and head are always yellow, never brownish. The Median Wasp has reddish stripes on the thorax, but the markings on head and abdomen are always yellow. Besides, it too is much smaller. And what's more: the Median Wasp always gives the impression being darker than the other Yellow Jackets. One other feature makes the Hornet stand apart from its smaller nephews: the head and abdomen are rather plump. Workers grow to a bodily length of 18 to 25mm. Males are slightly bigger: 21 to 28mm. Queens however are very telling, for they reach a length of 25 to 36mm!
In April and the beginning of May many people encounter a queen, looking for a good spot to build a nest. Usually the nest is made in a confined space like a hollow tree or a nesting box. Sometimes the nest is constructed underground. Rarely it is hung in a tree or shrub openly. The nest may be some 60cm. high and is of an ochreous or light brown colour. On the outside are a number of clam-shaped air chambers. The nest contains 4 up to 12 combs. At the peak of its development the nest contains some 1,700 animals, including eggs, larvae and pupae. The development of a hornet takes quite some time and the first males and new queens do not appear before the end of August. Of all Paper Wasps the Hornet is the only species to hunt by night as well as by day. While hunting at night they are regularly attracted to prey flying about a lamp. This usually causes great turmoil on the side of the lamp owner. The sting of the Hornet is quite painful, but the species is not aggressive at all. Nests in confined species may be approached at a distance of some 1 metre, without raising the anger of the Hornets. Nests hanging freely in a tree of shrub should be approached with more caution though. Keep a distance of some 5 metres and nothing will happen to you. Anyway, never stand in the approaching lane of the animals, for they don't tolerate this (and this goes for all wasps and bees). But even then a Hornet will not sting you quickly. Usually it starts hovering just in front of you. Just take a few steps aside (do not move forward or backwards) and suddenly the Hornet disappears, sure you are no longer in the approaching route to the nest. Hornets do like fallen and rotting fruit in autumn, but they will hardly ever bother us at a terrace. The animals are very important to us, for they kill lots of other insects. And because it is quite a formidable animal it is capable of attacking larger insects than most other wasps. The Hornet shows a remarkable phenomenon. The larvae produce a sweet milk, used to feed on by the adults. The adults like with all other wasps do not live on meat, but on nectar. The young eat the prey collected by the adults and secret a nectar like fluid themselves on which the parents feed.
The Hornet used to be not uncommon in England, but numbers declined dramatacilly in the 50's and 60's. However since 1990 numbers increase again and the Hornet is seen in southern parts of England up to the Midlands. It is still quite rare though.
