What in the name of **** is this??

[AdamIndy]

I've just walked in from work and been confronted with this bad motherfker.



Now I know it's a bee or a wasp but it's the biggest one I've ever seen. Has It been at the roids or does this particular breed have a liking for protein and lifting weights? It was all dopey struggling across the floor which was lucky as I would have had 2 options, uppercut the bd or throw the tv at it. If it came to a 1 on 1 fight I'm not sure I would win.

[jmorgan]

Hornet? I have seen them still out and about in November.

[bitchstewie]

For scale is that a pound coin of one of those chocolate money gold medallions?

[AdamIndy]

Hornet is a good shout actually, it was way bigger than your average bee/wasp.

As this is PH I was going to use a £100 note for scale but sadly my wad of oner's was left in the 991 GT3rs in guards red(obvs). A £1 coin had to do.

[Caddyshack]

My vote is queen wasp looking for somewhere to hibernate. Hornets are often size of £2 coin.

[Steve_W]

Caddyshack said:

My vote is queen wasp looking for somewhere to hibernate. Hornets are often size of £2 coin.

I'd agree with this - the queen's looking for somewhere out of the cold to overwinter. Hornets are bigger than that.

The hornets in the woods near us must have found somewhere similar as they're not round the porch light in the evening anymore - probably in our loft!!

[Yertis]

What's going on here then? Saw this yesterday.

[otolith]

When mummy wasp and daddy wasp love each other very much...

[Yertis]

I must admit I'm not that familiar with the reproductive behaviours of wasps. It went on for ages.

[carreauchompeur]

I haven't thought about it much, but I would imagine that wasps aren't exactly gentle, romantic lovers.

[steve2]

looks like a hornet, we have a nest in the woods near us and lots of walkers have been stung but they usually disappear in November

[Dr_Rick]

steve2 said:

looks like a hornet, we have a nest in the woods near us and lots of walkers have been stung but they usually disappear in November

The walkers disappear, or the hornets disappear?

I know the sting from a hornet hurts (speaking from experience), but surely they can't be burying walkers in the woods.

[ChocolateFrog]

It just looks like a normal wasp to me, about the size of a £1 coin seems right.

A Hornet would be much bigger, at least twice the size.

[monoloco]

Steve_W said:

Caddyshack said:

My vote is queen wasp looking for somewhere to hibernate. Hornets are often size of £2 coin.

I'd agree with this - the queen's looking for somewhere out of the cold to overwinter. Hornets are bigger than that.

The hornets in the woods near us must have found somewhere similar as they're not round the porch light in the evening anymore - probably in our loft!!

Yep -spot on. Its a Queen wasp. Unlike honey bees which over winter as a colony, wasp nests die out but before they do they have one last fling in autumn and produce a load of new queens which mate (pic above is just that!) which then find a nice quiet corner to hibernate -usually your loft/shed/garage etc then in the spring they start a new colony from scratch.