frelons (again!)

[hoverfrog]

ok, so when I asked about "big yellow and brown wasps" we had a few coming in and could cope :)

Now, they've grown up - and yes they are frelons, and now they are bigger!

Call them the lancaster bombers of 'buzzy lifeforms', they certainly make their presence felt!

I do accept that some people say they are benign, and that they have their place in ecology. Call me a nimby if you will, but at the moment we can't go outside - especially after dark!

If I turn the porch light on at dusk to put the chickens to bed, when I come back ( we're talking a few metres here...) there are 7 or 8 circling the light and I can't get through the front door. We would have had a pear crop, but there are so many round the pear tree that I'm not going anywhere near.

What can we do? The nest is not on our land, it appears to be in the woodland just behind the house. I'm not very keen on blaising a trail through the woodland, as most has several years regrowth and the locals tell me there are snakes (shudder).

Can we call the pompiers if the nest is not on our land?

Can we call them before someone gets hurt or do we have to wait until the 4-yr-old gets stung?

How many do we have to put up with before it's a recognised problem?

We can't go out of the house now without a fly-past - and it certainly freaks me out! I'm looking for a washing powder that smells of something they don't like so I can put the washing on the line.

There's a major 'frelon flight lane' straight across our garden - actually straight across the swimming pool, the washing line, the pear tree (which has one end of the hammock attached) and the trampoline...

I do realise that I can ask the mairie and the pompiers directly, and undoubtedly I will. However, it would be nice to hear anyone's opinion beforehand so I know what's 'normal'. (I'm still smarting about the hay bales, but that's another story altogether! Moral was, never believe what a french peasant tells you... it will cost you bigtime.)

End of the day - have any of you had frelons bothering you that weren't on your land, and how did you resolve it???

[TWINKLE]

They are very impressive and even if they are benign I wouldn't fancy being stung by one, and I understand you wanting to protect your 4 year old.  I'm sure Chris pp or somebody on the forum  will give you some sound advice about what to do.  In the meantime I would keep the outside light off and use a flash light for any outdoor activities.  If they are upsetting your day to day routine then you should consider contacting a bee expert in your area who are often experienced and equiped in removing the nest and 're-housing' it elsewhere.

I had run-ins with them on 3 seperate occasions last week while singing on stage. They are attracted by the stage-lights which are directly over me while I'm performing.

  What do you do in front of an audience while you're singing and one of those monsters are buzzing back and forth your face?

  Hide the fear, grin and bear it, don't drop a single note and at the end of the song when the lights go down -  stamp the life out of it with your 4 inch heels![:-))]

Sorry, but the show MUST go on!

[chris pp]

The thing is HF, what you are describing sounds only too normal to me, it's happening all over France, it's really common. Frelons primary place for nesting is in holes and hollows in trees, occasionally houses. They, as I replied yesterday elsewhere, don't all get to bed on time and then become attracted to light sources, along with lots of other insects, and yes, they will sure as eggs are eggs, eat your fruit, especially when it falls on the ground, but also on the tree if it has any damage. I'd say that it is part of French life and if the tree where they have nested is in the woods it's unlikely that anyone will be interested, but you never know. If you leave them alone they will leave you alone, they are more interested in feeding and I would think that any breeding would have ceased by now, it won't really be that long before they start to die.

As far as snakes in the woods goes, well that's another French myth, sure there are snakes in the woods and everywhere else as well, but they aren't going to jump on you.

Ah well, good luck and try leaving the lights of outside until it's actually dark, it may help.

Chris

 

[Deimos]

Am I right in assuming that these Frelons are actually hornets (Vespa crabro ?). I always thought hornets had a nasty sting (though they are not too aggressive and tend to run away rather than attack - particularly when not defending their nest).

Are they the same animal ? I seem to have quite a few around at the moment - probably because a peach tree next to the house is dropping fruit at the moment (which gets squashed when I walk past treading on some). Seems to attract them.

I did have to have a large nest removed from a beam of my house when I lived in the UK (there were loads and loads of them and when they got in the house the dog kept going for them - which would probably have been uncomfortable for the dog had he got stung).

Ian

[Alcazar]

Wife got stung three times on the face about two years ago, while we were collecting pine cones for her school one dusk.

It appears that WE disturbed their nest while collecting the cones, and the hornets zoomed out and attacked her as she stood on the road directing us.

She had a face like Quasimodo for about a week, couldn't see out of her right eye, and was in a lot of pain. She is now rather wary of any black and yellow flying insects.

Alcazar

[hoverfrog]

well I found out where the nest is - in a tree right next to the house! When I'd seen them flying 'past' the tree, what was really happening was some were coming in on one side and others leaving on the other!

Quite clever really - they have (at least) 2 entrances, and a 1-way system. As they 'pop' in or out at a rate of 3 or 4 a second it must be quite big :(

I feel a call to the pompiers coming on!

[bixy]

Yes, do call the pompiers if you must. We did so last year when we had a nest in the grenier - the pompiers were very good. But it is expensive - from memory somewhere in the region of 50 euros. We had another nest this year, in the chimney. We didn't bother with the pompiers and the frelons didn't bother us. As someone else said, they will all soon die. Incidentally they apparently never nest in the same place twice.

Patrick

[Tony F Dordogne]

In many areas the pompiers won't attend for frelon, bee or wasps nests.

Look in pages jeune for local apiarists (bee keepers) and give one of them a ring, probably cheaper that the pompiers and yu can then ask him/her about their locally produced honey.  Problem is they'll probably kill the frelons.

But if you disturb the nest without proper gear on, they will attack sure as frelons is frelons.

[hoverfrog]

well the pompiers don't do it here (87) any more either - but the very nice man said to look in pages jaune under désinsectisation.

There was no-one near us (the vet's receptionist said the local chap had retired) but a firm in Limoges covers the entire departement, on a sliding scale of chages depending how far they have to travel!

30 kms from Limoges, nest in tree 3 metres off ground, costs 120€ - which in the circumstances I'm very happy to pay!