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Any ideas what this is please?

markie6657markie6657 Posts: 43
in The potting shed
had this in the window this morning, very big over an inch long at not your run of the mill wasp. I've attached a couple of photos if anyone can put a name to it I'd appreciate it as we found a dead one in the house a couple of days ago too

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2020
    It’s a queen wasp ... I think it might be one of the Dolichovespula species  ... if you scroll down here you’ll find it. https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/insects-invertebrates/british-wasp-guide-how-to-identify-common-species-lifecycle-and-why-wasps-sting-in-autumn/

    She’s hibernated somewhere in your house over the winter and now the weather is warmer she wants to get out and find a place to start a new colony. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • markie6657markie6657 Posts: 43
    Hi,

    Many thanks for your reply, that was a great help. As someone who reacts badly to wasp stings it's fair to say this rather put the wind up me the other day given its size!
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    They have their place in the system, but they do kill the bees.  Hmmm.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Have you tried hanging a waspinator or two in your garden? I’ve not used them but I know a couple of cafes and places who have outside eating areas who swear by them to deter wasps from an area. 

    If I had a problem with wasp stings I’d certainly give it a try. 

    https://waspinator.co.uk/

    (I have no connection to them)


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    We have a few large wasps appear every year, usually around April, in our study. They’re always very sleepy so easy to put outside. We’ve never worked seen them emerge from their hidey-hole to out where they are coming from.


     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    I think it is a hornet.
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