I'm not sure if it is exactly the same one, but we had some notably aggressive type of wasp trying to nest in our beech hedge a couple of years back, and we both got stung. Some of them chased me all the way down the garden when I did something to upset them. I was rather confused when I tried to locate where they were coming from precisely, because I expected them to be in a hole in the ground, but there wasn't one. I read about it afterwards, and it was something that had come in from the continent with the warm weather, and this type likes to nest in places like untidy hedges. Fortunately they didn't like the hedge after it had been trimmed and bxxxxered off before I got to them with the chemicals.

This year we found a queen hornet trying to set up a nest in a cardboard box containing spare bicycle bits in the garden shed. We got her out of the building and and squashed her tiny beginnings of a nest. I thought we had disturbed her sufficiently that she would go somewhere else, because she flew off. But she was back the following day and I got rid of her in permanent manner. Sad really because they are magnificent insects, but I can't really have a nest of hornets in the shed, me being allergic to wasp stings and my nearly-two-year-old daughter running around the garden. She's already got stung by a wasp this year when she picked one up.

Wandering off a second, we have got some relatives staying at the moment, and they tell me they are convinced they saw a firecrest in the garden yesterday. I pooh-poohed, said must be a goldcrest, but he assures me he can tell the difference.