wasp or hornet?

Looks like a Queen wasp to me. Shee will have come into hibernate. Hornets are really big beggers, 40mm would be on the small side 50mm average.

I'm no expert but... The brown head rather than black makes me vote for hornet.

Hornets have become quite rare, my Readers Digest book says they have almost disappeared from south-east and central England. Their large size -32 mm and loud buzzing when flying can make them frightening, but those I've seen tend to keep to themselves very high in the trees and not trouble humans.

The book also quotes W.H.Hudson writing in 'Hampshire Days', 1903, saying these October Hornets are all females, wanderers from ruined homes, in search if sheltered places, where foodless and homeless each may live though the winter months.

IMO you should do all you can to help it survive the winter.

I suggest transfering it to an open wooden outside structure from which it can easily escape when spring comes. As you probably realise it may become quite lively in your heated home, so perhaps you may calm it down by cooling it off outside or in the fridge (with a notice on the door!).

Roger

That looks like a wasp to me. Hornets are bigger and really nasty. I have had a wasps nest in a cavity wall and had to get someone out to kill them off. The following year they found a way in through an air vent and built a large nest under a floor around central heating pipes. The nest was around

probably a queen looking for a winter berth, hence the large size.

Looks like a wasp to me - the hornets I've seen are more like small helicopters than large wasps.

It's a wasp. If it's larger than "normal", it's likely a queen looking for somewhere to hibernate.

We get hornets in our orchard, and they're about the size of your thumb.

Thanks all for your replies (though no sign of Mary - maybe she's out wassailing :-).

I put it out in some bushes to fend for itself.

So a nice wasps nest for someone or a load more of em next year then :/

I'd look after a bee. I like honey ;)

P.

She's not, however she may have morphed into John Cartmell.

I think the colour rendition of the images leaves a little to be desired. Funny colour balance due to tungsten light making everything rather orange.

Do you have any idea how many flies a wasps nest will devour in a year?

I'd rather have few wasps than lots of flies, at least until september when the social control of the nest begins to break down and the buggers start getting pissed on rotten fruit and acting like chavs :-)

Henry

Yeah yeah of course the "nest", as in the structure itself, eats none but the grubs inside eat shed loads, you pedantic twerp.

Henry

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Yes, sorry, actually tungsten halogen so not quiet as yellow is it could have been but in the excitement I didn't think to set the right colour balance.