David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
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Hymenoptera 7 – European Hornets
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro (m)
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro (m)
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro (m)
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro (m)
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro (m)
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro
EUROPEAN
HORNETS Vespa crabro
· The European Hornet Vespa crabro is the largest social wasp to be found in the UK. Although perhaps rather intimidating, both in sound and appearance, they are not normally aggressive towards humans unless directly threatened. These large wasps are beneficial as they feed on smaller (more aggressive) social wasps and other insects and they also act as important pollinators. Quite apart from anything else they are fascinating to observe. Nests are usually built in hollow trees or other cavities. New queens and males appear in the late summer and the latter are characterised by their longer antennae (close examination – not hazardous in any way as males cannot sting - will confirm that there are thirteen antennal segments as opposed to the twelve found in workers and females). There have recently been various scare stories in the press, several of them palpably nonsensical, associated with non-native Asian Hornets Vespa velutina and these have sometimes erroneously been illustrated with photographs of native European Hornets, therefore potentially posing a threat to these useful creatures. Further information about the potential impact of the arrival of V. velutina may be found here: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-asian-hornets-are-bad-news-for-british-bees.html and photographs of this wasp may be found here: Hymenoptera 29. When seen in flight the slightly smaller Asian Hornet is darker and it appears to have a reddish ‘tail’. These photographs were taken in the UK, France, and Portugal.
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