Hornet suprise!!

[Fourwings]

Last weeks gales caused loads of damage locally and I have spent the last few days sawing up several large trees felled by the wind, these were mostly Ash but also included an old Damson tree.
Once sawn up I transported the wood home for logging up and it was whilst doing this today that I had a pleasant and very unexpected suprise.
As I split open one of the large damson logs I notoiced something fall out of the rotten wood onto the large chopping block.
To my utter suprise it was a huge Queen Hornet and thankfully it seemed quite unharmed despite having its winter resting place split open by a blow from a 6lb logging maul, even more suprising was that on closer inspection there was a second Queen Hornet in the same log!
I carefully removed the second Queen and placed them both in a container of saw-dust, I couldn't let such a rare chance to study these fantastic insects at close range go to waste so I fetched out my trusty S7000 to get some images, unfortunately the light was pretty bad so I was forced to use flash, something I hate doing.
I did not want to chance taking them inside to photograph them as the increase in heat would have woken them from their torpid state and would have ultimately have lead to their death if released wide awake at this time of year.

Queen Hornet -Side view


Queen Hornet - top view



After photographing them both I carefully constructed a huge pile of the dead Damson logs in our own small wood in our field putting the log containing the two replaced Queens at it heart.
They can now hopefully sleep out the rest of the Winter in peace and with a bit of luck will emerge and bulid nests close by, fingers crossed

[Wild-Woman]

What a great story Steve. Thank goodness it was you that found them. I should imagine many wouldn't bother taking the care that you did to insure their future.
They certainly are beautiful creatures and I had my first proper encounter with them in a fishermens cabin by a lake. They were swarming and up against the window so you could stand safely one side and study them in detail close up.
I was stunned at the size of the queen too. Amazing stuff.
You got some great shots of them while they were dozy.There is undoubtedly some incredible insects in this land of ours and hornets are amongst some of the most wonderous.


Jules

[nightshade]

What a wonderful find and being able(and willing)to help them survive
Good for you Steve

[Fourwings]

Thanks Jules, I've been waiting for years to get a reasonable image of a Hornet and I'd never of thought that I would finally get my chance in January!
The only downside was not having good light to photograph them in so having to use flash, but I suppose they turned out reasonably well considering.

They were fantastic insects to study and as you say so very BIG, I would estimate that they were about 3cm long. I was actually handling them as they were very dopey but you can't do this for too long or your body heat will wake them up resulting in a very nasty and painful sting.

I'm really hoping that the care I took in reinstating them to the wild will result in one or hopefully both of them nesting somewhere in our field/garden thus hopefully giving me the chance to get some more images when they are active in the Summer sun.

[Fourwings]

Originally Posted by nightshade

What a wonderful find and being able(and willing)to help them survive
Good for you Steve

Thanks Nightshade, it certainly brightened up my day.

[Wild-Woman]

These were mine, but they were so active, I couldn't get a decent shot that shows off their size. They were bouncing off that window pane and getting a bit cross so I was glad the glass was there!

[Fourwings]

Cool , quite an experience Jules.

They say that Hornets are not as aggresive as other Wasp species but I wouldn't like to torment them too much, they are huge and I bet that sting would hurt!

[HARIMAU1610]

Great stuff man

Hornets are amazing.

I still have two dead hornets in a matchbox from when I was 7 years old when we moved into a new house they where dead in the fire place and I still have them in perfect condition (which makes them 27 years old lol)...I once in a while have a sneak peak then place them back in the cupboard. Still Since I moved to the city I dont see them as often as I did growing up in Suffolk.....

Great thread

HARIMAU

[matt_xyz]

They really are impressive insects aren't they. I think last year was a very good year for them, I went from never having seen one to seeing quite a few in 3 different places, all within a couple of months. Let's hope the mild winter suits them and we see plenty more next spring and summer.

Matt

[Fourwings]

I'm really hoping that one of these ladies will provide me with the chance to photograph an active nest and maybe get some good macro images of individuals with the sigma 150 macro.

Has anyone out there got any experience with photographing/studying Hornets nests? hopefully it's not as risky as getting too close to the nests of their smaller, more aggresive and much commoner cousins.