Hornets

[montagrier]

Hello all... I have an old fallen tree in my yard and I want to cut it up for firewood but I have noticed a healthy selection of hornets diving in and out of the trunk end...( I think they are hornets... like huge wasps about an inch and some long ) Now I dont want attack the tree with my chainsaw until these earth controlling creatures have gone to sleep for the winter or left ( gone on holiday ) for the winter.

Does any one know when that might be? And more importantly do they leave for the winter or am I going to have to fight them one day out in the cold???

Thank you in advance...

monti

[Tresco]

I wouldn't do it myself...definitely. They are brutes. Call the Pompiers!

 

[Bob T]

The pompiers will charge you for removing them these days. They are not as bad as people think, I have removed nests from my chiminey without problems. Dress up well though.

[Chris Head]

Just don't go there at the mo Monti, leave em be until it's frosty then squirt a can of wasp spray in there and hopefully after that they won't bother you! No doubt Chrispp is recoiling at my treatment of them!

[steve]

we have a hornets nest in the field at the bottom of the garden and there are allways a lot of them around, but they dont really seem to bother us at all when we are out in the garden. i allways thought they were really aggresive ?

[Chris Head]

They're not Steve, I've worked many a time in deep woodland with the drone of hornets in the background, never got stung once. They are intelligent and passive insects....but disturb their nest....

[Tresco]

Steve, we had one in a Pear Tree.

They really don't bother me, but the neighbours dog was badly stung, and apparently the neighbs were all discussing 'where can this mystery nest be...?' with eachother. Someone else informed on us.

They were pretty shocked that we were so unconcerned; that we knew about the nest and hadn't done anything. Neighb No.1 got her Pompier nephew to come and sort it out. He was very well covered up...

 

[steve]

tresco, they really dont bother me while i am clearing stuff in the garden. i did have to have a close look at the old tree they were nesting in. so took the brave step of driving up to the tree in my van it was quite warm and they seemed to come go from every direction.

ther is no way i would disturb their nest, especially while they are still so active.

[Tresco]

Quite right too. It was only the censure of my neighbours that made me act.

However, Montagrier wants the wood, therefore the Frelons must die...unless someone knows otherwise.

[chris pp]

"Just don't go there at the mo Monti, leave em be until it's frosty then squirt a can of wasp spray in there and hopefully after that they won't bother you! No doubt Chrispp is recoiling at my treatment of them!"

Not at all, if you wait until the frost they won't be there any longer, it's as simple as that, what I find strange is that you have said on other occasions that you love nature, if they are not causing any real problem, why the destruction? There are far more important things than Frelons, all I would like is for people to understand things a little better, have a little less fear and reduce their use of poisons and chemicals which are causing serious problems for both wildlife and humans.

If you keep an eye on the nest, you should see when the time is coming, activity will reduce and the males will start to die, this will be before the frosts arrive, really quite soon, sometime in November, the young fertilised queens will depart the nest and look for individual places to spend the winter. They almost never, and I mean almost never, use an old nest site, but this won't matter as you will have cut it all up by then. If, however, you start to use a chainsaw when they are still active you risk a mass attack which could be life threatening, wait until all activity has ceased.

Chris (with a cold, that's what you get from people)

 

 

[Unknown]

You must have caught it from Dick

[Chris Head]

I personally think that if there's any hornet activity anywhere on ones property and there's even the slightest possibility that a child could disturb them then they have to be eliminated, my two are often wandering around 3 acres with their freinds and in and out of trees although I check often during the summer that there are no wasp or hornet nests.  

[chris pp]

Perhaps you should consider spending a bit of time educating them about the natural world, I taught my children, all 5 of them how to handle all manner of "dangerous" creatures and how to behave without coming to any harm, and they didn't.

Honestly, no dig, you really do surprise me, you come across as all out and about in the countryside, living wild etc. but you want to keep your kids in cotton wool, or so it would seem.

Understanding not fear is my maxim for life.

It's not Africa, it's France.

Chris

[Chris Head]

Living wild...god no thanks Chris, I like my Duvet too much! Out & about in the sticks, sure, I love it,was born & brought up in the sticks, there still exist natural hazards that have to be dealt with to minimise the risk to a child within a homestead. If my kids and their friends are running around playing cowboys 'n' indians they're hardly attuned to any natural hazard (such as hornet/wasp nests) that might befall them, it's my duty as a parent to make the home environment as safe as possible for them, so any nests are dealt with and grass is kept short. If they're in woodland with me that's very different, of course I educate them to possible hazards and how to identify them by sight and sound.

You're obviously a naturalist Chris and I totally respect your experience and education but not everybody would be comfortable living with something that intimidates them, such as a hornet nest. Fear is an emotion that is very natural, if somebody is scared, they are scared.

[Unknown]

Its pretty obvious Chris Head rubs Chris PP up the wrong way, I guess a clash of personalities.

Chris PP I want to keep my kids wrapped up in cotton wool too, is this wrong?  should I throw them in a pit with some dangerous animal?

Does Chris Head live in the trees or just create stuff with them?

I think the knowledge you have about living things is ouststanding, you are clearly an asset on this forum.  However we don't all think like you or necessarily undersand in the way you do, this doesn't make us not care, its just I would kill a swarm of anything rather than let one of my kids suffer.

 

 

[Unknown]

Didn't see Chris Heads post as I was trying to reply carefully to Chris PP.

[chris pp]

My problem with that argument is that certain species will be greatly diminished if it's extended to everyones garden, especially if it's a garden that encompasses a medium to large area of land. This of course has a knock on effect on other species, it's the same old story, you can't have butterflies without caterpillars, or if you prefer you can't have a lot of the birds that we have today without caterpillars, or whatever....

Every species plays its own important role in the matrix of life......until humans finally bring that to an end, and if that happens, as in many ways it already is, it will be a sad day. There isn't a day that goes by without several species becoming extinct somewhere in the world and that really is a fact. In our search for a safe, perfect world we will end up destroying the very basis of our existence.

On Sunday, someone asked me why I bother, why I bother about education projects for young people, why I bother about the environmental impact of my life on the planet etc. This was asked because I clearly will not live to see the results of the damage that "we" are causing. Very simply it's because I have children and grandchildren, and it would be nice if after I'm dead they didn't hold the current generation responsible for gross negligence and selfishness.

There is an illusion in the French countryside that all is lovely, that all is well, but it is an illusion. There is indeed a great diversity, France is very important in that respect due to it's geographic position, but the wildlife here started of from a very high "base", many, many species are in decline or remain in fragmented populations, many species are threatened. I really don't think that it's beyond anyone to stop and think before setting out on a course of destruction and whether it really is the only option.

Bit like Iraq really. (ooops, bit political)

Chris

 

 

[Deimos]

I would have thought that at some point children will leave the "cotton wool" and then, how they get on would depend to an extent on how well prepared they are. Thus, too much cotton wool and they may not manage as well (because they will leave the cotton wool).

I'm afraid that I tend to agree with Chris (pp). Educating children about how to live in our environment rather than protecting them from exposure to it will help them no end in later life. If one lives in the countryside, then the environment is all around. If we chose to live in the countryside then we really have to accept the countryside and not try and turn it into some sanitised version where everything that we might not like has been eradicated.

As an aside, there is an increasing body of opinion that the UK "health and safety" for everything child related in the UK is doing children no favours. I've seen several programs about aspects of child development expressing how important is it that children learn through experience and that the increased protection from this experience (e.g. no school trips because of risks, no activities because of risks, etc.) is actually increasing their dependants in later life - sort of always needing safety nets and almost seeking the "nanny state".

(But please don't take these comments as me telling others how to bring up their children - more a comment that if you don't like things about the countryside then is it really the right place to live ?)

Ian

[Unknown]

Of Course Ian you are right.  I would love to keep my children cradled in my arms forever, never wanting them to ever experience anything bad.  But because I love them so much I have to let them go, and in the mean I will educate them as best I can, but frankly I had scared of flying insects that sting.  Give me a spider any day, I don't have a problem with these at all or snakes or anything else.  But flying, stinging insects, what is their point of existance apart from embedding them selves on my fly swat.

Seriously though, I do try and be kind to all living things as long as they don't bother me to the extent that they make my life a misery.

Live and let live as long as you are not in my face.

[Chris Head]

Agree Deimos but young children are not able to identify what is hazardous to them and what is not. My two are old enough now aged 8 & 11 and know exactly what to look for,. but that doesn't nullify my duty to them and to the parents of the children who play here. It was my 8 year old who spotted hornet activity in the tree that has the tree house in earlier in the summer. We live on a working farm and there is an awful lot that could go wrong, but I've no worries now.

[Pixietoadstool]

I have just returned from Egypt after completing my open water diver course in the Red Sea.  One of the things which was drilled home to us in the course is that no animal will attack you if unprovoked - it takes them too much energy and investment to waste their bites or stings on something which is not food and which is not presenting a threat to them.  I believe this is true for all animals.  I saw plenty of venomous and/or dangerous animals in the Red Sea and was quite happy to watch them going about their daily life from a safe distance.  They were not interested in me.

Here in England we see hornets around the house every year and sometimes they fly inside.  I do not get hysterical about this for two reasons:  one is that I know they will not attack me and the other is that I know that EVEN IF THEY DO the sting is not likely to be very serious and can easily be sorted out with a bit of common sense and all or any of the following: painkillers, antihistamines, local anaesthetic.

I too was dismayed by some of the posters' reactions to hornets in their midst.  I have always taught my child to be respectful of wildlife and at the same time explaining any possible dangers and how to handle them.  PLEASE, PLEASE come to your senses and put it all in perspective - hornets are not living in your garden to prey on YOU - they are just going about their daily life and if they sting you it is not likely to cause very many problems at all - not very different from a wasp sting but a bit more potent. 

Live and let live PLEASE!

 

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Pixietoadstool"]

 EVEN IF THEY DO the sting is not likely to be very serious and can easily be sorted out with a bit of common sense and all or any of the following: painkillers, antihistamines, local anaesthetic.

 if they sting you it is not likely to cause very many problems at all - not very different from a wasp sting but a bit more potent. 

 

[/quote]

I suggest you read the posts in the past regarding anaphalactic shock. Hornets DO kill (some) people. Thats why I carry an epi-pen.

[Deimos]

I think most people in the thread who were talking about hornet destruction were not doing it because of anaphalactic shock reasons (something that does not affect large numbers of people).

Ian

[Pixietoadstool]

 Powerdesal: I think you will find that anaphylactic shock is really quite rare and can also happen with wasp, bee and even ant stings: hornets should not be singled out!  Or alternatively I suppose you could try to kill all wasps, bees and ants on your property.

What about snakes, should they be exterminated too? 

You really need to get it in perspective, please stop the hysteria.

 

[Chris Head]

It's not hysteria Pixie just basic commonsense risk assessment. A nest of insects that could do alot of harm to an unsuspecting child is different to a single insect wafting it's way innocently through the garden. I've often spent time in woodland working near hornets nests, I know about them and they know about me, they're no more of a problem to me than I am to them, it's a mutual understanding. In their environment I repect them, in mine, they die if there's a risk that a child could be harmed. Don't forget Pixy that a child cannot logicise like you do when it is running around playing, it's not aware of the hazards and dangers that could beset it. Perhaps you and Chrisspp might act differently to me, I don't really care, I know my mind and you know yours.