Saw a huge Asian Hornet in my garden.

welshboyo

sev112 said:

If it’s a big mf … then it’s not Asian, they are actually quite small,  the European more docile ones are the bigger ones.

the Asian doesn’t have big yellow bands, more black with a small orange bum

Ah, ok, ours was a big beastie with orange bands, so European.

sev112

https://www.bbka.org.uk/asian-hornet-incursion-map#:~:text=A%20rolling%20update%20for%202023,sightings%20in%20England%20in%202023.

Couple of pictures of the differences here 

welshboyo

Yep, definitely an European one, like a flying traffic cone!!

breezytele

Interesting thread.

I moved  to Cornwall last October, and have caught and released 4 hornets in the past fortnight.

All were caught downstairs, which gives me a crumb of comfort at bedtime 

darthed1981

ToneControl said:

First thought I had was the wings look plastic.
Could an insect that size fly???

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

ThePrettyDamned

If it was huge, are you sure it was an Asian hornet? 

I've never seen an Asian one, but i do see quite a few European hornets on the allotment, although it's a bit early at the moment, I see them more in summer. Note that our hornet is bigger than the Asian one, and does look different. Asian ones are not hugely commonplace I think, and don't tend to survive colder climes up North. 

Essential reading in interest of avoiding instances of people killing our own hornets, which has occurred here. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how-identify/have-you-found-hornet

Increase in number of wildflowers has also brought about my first ever sighting of a hornet mimic hover fly last year! That was super cool, not sure whether they are rare but I'd never seen one before. 

ThePrettyDamned

equalsql said:

sev112 said:

If it’s a big mf … then it’s not Asian, they are actually quite small,  the European more docile ones are the bigger ones.

the Asian doesn’t have big yellow bands, more black with a small orange bum

Certainly the one I spotted was black ahd orange. Quite striking actually. Certainly, in all my years of gardening I've nowt seen anything like this bugger.

Missed this, could have been an Asian hornet, but they're really not that big, which is throwing me off a bit. I'm not an expert though - some of my colleagues can identify different insects by the sound they make! 

Definitely good to report - it's worth taking photos etc as there is a lot of scope for mistakes. I reported my first invasive last year - Chinese mitten crabs, coming up the fen drains and up the ouse. No mistaking those, they're called mitten crabs for a reason! 

ToneControl

darthed1981 said:

ToneControl said:

First thought I had was the wings look plastic.
Could an insect that size fly???

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles was it?)

darthed1981

ToneControl said:

darthed1981 said:

ToneControl said:

First thought I had was the wings look plastic.
Could an insect that size fly???

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles was it?)

I suspect they could still fly - the air hasn't changed that much - but yes possibly not breathe well.

In the Jurassic Park novels there are lots of mentions about how much many of the animals they have bred simply struggle to breathe in our modern world.

Sadly, as the concept of getting prehistoric DNA is debunked at this point, nobody will ever see a T-Rex without a time machine, which also probably can't exist... sigh.

breezytele

ToneControl said:

darthed1981 said:

ToneControl said:

First thought I had was the wings look plastic.
Could an insect that size fly???

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles 

Kittyfrisk

ThePrettyDamned said:

equalsql said:

sev112 said:

If it’s a big mf … then it’s not Asian, they are actually quite small,  the European more docile ones are the bigger ones.

the Asian doesn’t have big yellow bands, more black with a small orange bum

Certainly the one I spotted was black ahd orange. Quite striking actually. Certainly, in all my years of gardening I've nowt seen anything like this bugger.

Missed this, could have been an Asian hornet, but they're really not that big, which is throwing me off a bit. I'm not an expert though - some of my colleagues can identify different insects by the sound they make! 

Definitely good to report - it's worth taking photos etc as there is a lot of scope for mistakes. I reported my first invasive last year - Chinese mitten crabs, coming up the fen drains and up the ouse. No mistaking those, they're called mitten crabs for a reason! 

Along with Signal Crayfish & American Lobsters, I'm sure that if I were in areas affected by them, I would be doing my patriotic best to rid my country of them... yum!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2397495-edible-and-delicious-chinese-mitten-crabs-are-invading-the-uk/

darthed1981

Kittyfrisk said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

equalsql said:

sev112 said:

If it’s a big mf … then it’s not Asian, they are actually quite small,  the European more docile ones are the bigger ones.

the Asian doesn’t have big yellow bands, more black with a small orange bum

Certainly the one I spotted was black ahd orange. Quite striking actually. Certainly, in all my years of gardening I've nowt seen anything like this bugger.

Missed this, could have been an Asian hornet, but they're really not that big, which is throwing me off a bit. I'm not an expert though - some of my colleagues can identify different insects by the sound they make! 

Definitely good to report - it's worth taking photos etc as there is a lot of scope for mistakes. I reported my first invasive last year - Chinese mitten crabs, coming up the fen drains and up the ouse. No mistaking those, they're called mitten crabs for a reason! 

Along with Signal Crayfish & American Lobsters, I'm sure that if I were in areas affected by them, I would be doing my patriotic best to rid my country of them... yum!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2397495-edible-and-delicious-chinese-mitten-crabs-are-invading-the-uk/

The delicious semen of the males awaits your palate my friend.... 

Kittyfrisk

Ah yes, the 'golden, voluptuous semen'.
Sounds like one of Trumps old chat up lines... another unwanted invasive nuisance.

darthed1981

Kittyfrisk said:

Ah yes, the 'golden, voluptuous semen'.

Great name for a band, ironically.

ICBM

ToneControl said:

darthed1981 said:

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles was it?)

Yes, it’s basically because insects breathe through their skin, and skin area increases with the square of the dimensions whereas body volume increases by the cube, so there is a limit beyond which the skin area is too small to provide enough oxygen for the size of the body. A higher oxygen concentration increases this. Hence, 75cm-wingspan dragonflies...

They wouldn’t survive, much less be able to fly, at current oxygen levels.

darthed1981 said:

Sadly, as the concept of getting prehistoric DNA is debunked at this point, nobody will ever see a T-Rex without a time machine, which also probably can't exist... sigh.

“There was a sound of thunder.”

Kittyfrisk

ICBM said:

ToneControl said:

darthed1981 said:

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles was it?)

Yes, it’s basically because insects breathe through their skin, and skin area increases with the square of the dimensions whereas body volume increases by the cube, so there is a limit beyond which the skin area is too small to provide enough oxygen for the size of the body. A higher oxygen concentration increases this. Hence, 75cm-wingspan dragonflies...

They wouldn’t survive, much less be able to fly, at current oxygen levels.

darthed1981 said:

Sadly, as the concept of getting prehistoric DNA is debunked at this point, nobody will ever see a T-Rex without a time machine, which also probably can't exist... sigh.

“There was a sound of thunder.”

Ray Bradbury was a great writer.

ICBM

Kittyfrisk said:

Ray Bradbury was a great writer.

That’s one of the very first sci-fi stories I ever read, at the age of eight - it can’t be the very first, since it’s not the first story in R Is For Rocket, but it’s the first I remember. It made a huge impression on me, and it was only much later that I discovered it’s one of the most important ever written, and coined the term “butterfly effect”.

For anyone not familiar…

https://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/ASoundofThunder.pdf

Offset

Kittyfrisk said:

Along with Signal Crayfish & American Lobsters, I'm sure that if I were in areas affected by them, I would be doing my patriotic best to rid my country of them... yum!

Signal crayfish are very common here.  People use crayfish pots along many stretches of water but you need a licence to trap the little buggers.  They're bloody delicious though and quite a few small food businesses sell them.

Kittyfrisk

As usual with such matters, licensing arrangements are really not straightforward. One might even say prohibitively difficult. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/invasive-alien-species-licence-to-manage-and-control-them-ias-a02

darthed1981

Kittyfrisk said:

ICBM said:

ToneControl said:

darthed1981 said:

Giant insects were a thing in prehistoric times.

I Know, but I vaguely recall that was possible because oxygen was a higher percentage of air, and the insect breathing system worked on a larger scale (spiracles was it?)

Yes, it’s basically because insects breathe through their skin, and skin area increases with the square of the dimensions whereas body volume increases by the cube, so there is a limit beyond which the skin area is too small to provide enough oxygen for the size of the body. A higher oxygen concentration increases this. Hence, 75cm-wingspan dragonflies...

They wouldn’t survive, much less be able to fly, at current oxygen levels.

darthed1981 said:

Sadly, as the concept of getting prehistoric DNA is debunked at this point, nobody will ever see a T-Rex without a time machine, which also probably can't exist... sigh.

“There was a sound of thunder.”

Ray Bradbury was a great writer.

IIRC - he was responsible for the original story that one of my favourite childhood films "The Beast from 20,000 fathoms" was based on, which despite it's dodgy understanding of what a fathom is - remains brilliant to this day.

I think, as I'm sure many here have seen it, that there is a great prequel to be made about that one police officer, who shoots at the dino with his revolver then gets eaten.  That officer would have been a WW2 vet, maybe run away and people died so stood his ground this time, maybe run into another dino...

..copyright ME, right NOW