The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
"Des Higgins" writes:
|
| I have never seen a hornet in teh UK but the ones on teh continent are
| simply HUGE. They blot out the sun.

Yeah. Terrible place. Stinks of garlic and bratwurst, and the
coffee is made from BEANS, fer chrissake!

In the UK, of course, blotting out the sun would be superfluous.


It's obvious you don't realise just how common they are.

Just *WHAT ELSE* do you put the lack of sun down to?

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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Following up to Rusty Hinge 2 :

The message
from Tim C. contains these words:

Are you sure it was a wasp? They usually take prey back to the nest.
(I've never heard of them taking a bee, either.)

Could it have been a hornet? I do know the difference but I can't be
certain what it was now - last Summer's along time for my poor head.

Dunno, Hornets are rather like chubby wasp-shaped
ochre/cinnamon-coloured jumbo jets, and have a very deep masculine drone
as they fly. I'd have expected them to take prey back to the nest, too.

Maybe it had low blood-sugar and needed fix.
It was interesting to see how it held the bee in its front legs and
manipulated it.

Some hoverflies look very beelike and waspish, and they do take other
flying insects.

Nope, definitely a bee victim. I really can't remember if it was a wasp of
hornet that did the eating.
--
Tim C.

The message
from Rusty Hinge 2 contains these words:

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In the UK, of course, blotting out the sun would be superfluous.


It's obvious you don't realise just how common they are.

Just *WHAT ELSE* do you put the lack of sun down to?

Bees in the bonnet. Especially the sort of bee-bonnet with a wide
shady brim.

Janet

"La Puce" wrote in message
oups.com...

Des Higgins wrote:
I have never seen a hornet in teh UK but the ones on teh continent are
simply HUGE. They blot out the sun.
Basically they look like normal wasps except for size. UK wasps do bite
heads of bumble bees although I have never seen it.

Last August, at my cousin's house in Bordeaux, I died, I did. Coming
out of the swimming pool, I put on my trousers and went into the
kitchen. My husband was on the phone (he never stops) and suddenly I
felt the worst pain I had ever felt on my inside leg - and I've been
stung many time - but this pain made me feel sick instantly. I started
screaming, trying to remove my trousers, in front of my husband still
on the phone but now totally silent at the scene unfolding in front of
him, but for a brief second he looked as if to say 'what, here, now?'.
By then everybody was in the kitchen desperate to help me remove my
trousers. A hornet, the size of my head, was still clinging inside the
trouser leg. I sobbed as if I was 6 years old and it took me an entire
day to recover from it.


Holey mudder of divine sweet jayzes!

--
X-No-Archive
"Des Higgins" wrote in message
. ie...

"Tim C." wrote in message
...
Following up to Rusty Hinge 2 :

The message
from Tim C. contains these words:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:28:49 +0000, Dave Poole
wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:

Each queen wasp will be the mother of a whole new colony by summer.

... which will result in the eradication of thousands of caterpillars
and other garden pests, so think twice before you kill the queen
wasp.

Last summer I saw a wasp hunting and catch a honeybee from some
flowers in the garden. It flew with it to our small cherry tree and
hanging on by 3 legs from a leaf, carefully bit the head off the bee.
It then bit all the legs off letting them fall to the ground and
finally proceeded to eat out the abdomen like a döner kebab.


Are you sure it was a wasp? They usually take prey back to the nest.
(I've never heard of them taking a bee, either.)

Could it have been a hornet? I do know the difference but I can't be
certain what it was now - last Summer's along time for my poor head.

I have never seen a hornet in teh UK but the ones on teh continent are
simply HUGE. They blot out the sun.
Basically they look like normal wasps except for size. UK wasps do bite
heads of bumble bees although I have never seen it.

Well I hate wasps and will kill them if I see them. I have felt guilty
about my unreasonable fear of them and killing them since people say how
they are good for the garden but since I actually like bumble bees and will
happily hold them in my hands and have never been stung by one, but have
been stung by nasty viscious wasps, at least this post has given me the
excuse I needed. Wasps are back on my hit list and I don't feel a twinge of
guilt. I'll be swatting, squishing and drowning the nasty stripey creechers
at every opportunity.

Following up to "PammyT" :

Wasps are back on my hit list and I don't feel a twinge of
guilt. I'll be swatting, squishing and drowning the nasty stripey creechers
at every opportunity.

They don't *just* eat bees, you know. They eat more other garden-pesty
things.

"German wasps hunt and consume arthropods, including flies, mosquitoes and
caterpillars; wasp larvae require a protein rich diet of insects and
spiders"
--
Tim C.

Des Higgins wrote:

Holey mudder of divine sweet jayzes!

You can larf. I could have been anaphy..err..entartic, for all you
know!! g

"Kleopatra" wrote in message
oups.com...
For the first time ever it was, when I saw a few buzzing around in mid
January a couple of weeks ago. So I'm thinking it must be down to
global warming or something. Is that normally the reason (or is it just
me?)

I thought it was strange...........

Kleo


Had a Queen in the house last December and the previous February. In fact
one or more per week Feb. to June last year.

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
Janet Baraclough wrote:

Each queen wasp will be the mother of a whole new colony by summer.

... which will result in the eradication of thousands of caterpillars
and other garden pests, so think twice before you kill the queen wasp.



Since they make eating (or sleeping as I would wish to do after a 3 am start
for work) outdoors impossible August to November, here, I wouldn't hesitate
in killing them.

Trevor

East Yorkshire

"Trevor" wrote in message
...

"Kleopatra" wrote in message
oups.com...
For the first time ever it was, when I saw a few buzzing around in mid
January a couple of weeks ago. So I'm thinking it must be down to
global warming or something. Is that normally the reason (or is it just
me?)

I thought it was strange...........

Kleo


Had a Queen in the house last December and the previous February. In fact
one or more per week Feb. to June last year.

What you do in your spare time is no concern to anyone else.

In article , Tim C.
wrote:

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:28:49 +0000, Dave Poole
wrote:

Janet Baraclough wrote:

Each queen wasp will be the mother of a whole new colony by summer.

... which will result in the eradication of thousands of caterpillars
and other garden pests, so think twice before you kill the queen wasp.

Last summer I saw a wasp hunting and catch a honeybee from some
flowers in the garden. It flew with it to our small cherry tree and
hanging on by 3 legs from a leaf, carefully bit the head off the bee.
It then bit all the legs off letting them fall to the ground and
finally proceeded to eat out the abdomen like a döner kebab.

They frequently eat bees. I sit in late summer beside my hive, where a
dozen wasps will be patrolling, attacking any bee that falls to the
ground. They'll often eat the abdomen, and leave the rest of the bee
flailing. They also try to penetrate inside the hive, with the result
that at that time of year most beekeepers reduce the size of the
entrance, to make it easier for the guard bees to defend.

Lazarus

--
X-No-Archive
"Tim C." wrote in message
...
Following up to "PammyT" :

Wasps are back on my hit list and I don't feel a twinge of
guilt. I'll be swatting, squishing and drowning the nasty stripey
creechers
at every opportunity.

They don't *just* eat bees, you know. They eat more other garden-pesty
things.

"German wasps hunt and consume arthropods, including flies, mosquitoes and
caterpillars; wasp larvae require a protein rich diet of insects and
spiders"

So taking the food from the beaks of baby chickens too eh? Naasty stripey
creechers.

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 01:01:40 -0000, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:

The message
from Tim C. contains these words:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:28:49 +0000, Dave Poole
wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
.................
(I've never heard of them taking a bee, either.)

Dont believe it, especially late summer. I have lost 3 bee hives down
to wasps. Once they're in the bees give up defending their young and
the wasps strip the hive of every living thing along with the honey,

The message
from Steve Newport contains these words:

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 01:01:40 -0000, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:

The message
from Tim C. contains these words:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:28:49 +0000, Dave Poole
wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
.................
(I've never heard of them taking a bee, either.)

No, I didn't write that. Please mind your attributions

Janet

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

The message
from Steve Newport contains these words:

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 01:01:40 -0000, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:

The message
from Tim C. contains these words:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:28:49 +0000, Dave Poole
wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
.................
(I've never heard of them taking a bee, either.)

No, I didn't write that. Please mind your attributions


Uh-huh?

The attributions say that *I* wrote it, and, I did.

(Though he did leave in two attribution lines for text he'd stripped
out. Naughty Steve!)

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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