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Big black wasp??


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I know it was not a big black wasp, but

What do you think I have just been scared witless by?  It sounded like a BIG wasp or bee as it was trying to get out of the window.  It was about 3cm long, maybe a little longer and over 1cm wide.  It has been in the house a few times recently, but today I couldn't get to the window to open it for ages. 

It had no yellow on it at all.

I would love to be able to work it out, as I got too close for comfort and wouldn't have liked to have been stung by it...

Margaret

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Sounds like a Carpenter Bee. We have a few hovering around the concrete electricity pole! Appears they like holes in walls to build their nests in and wisteria!

Don't believe they're particularily aggressive but can understand how they appear intimidating!

Alan & Gill
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Well, thank you for your replies!  I have ben looking at carpenter bees on the internet, and I might be just persuaded that my attacker was indeed one.  But it's also quite nice to know that males don't sting - and I read somewhere that you can tell because either the female or the male has a white spot on its face,  I think if I get that close I might have already been stung/not stung...

But what terrifies me is that it loves to find a home in the end of a piece of wood!  Well, mine canchoose any log on the wood pile, or indeed many ends on the house itself! Oh .....

Of course, it could be something different - but it did sound like a load of planes coming over(not sure about bombers but I do remember the sound of lots of canberras and it resembled that!

Margaret

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No. It wasn't a hornet, bigger than that, fatter, louder and black!  We also have hornets, we have pictures of them taken by one *** 24 year old.  It's a pity he wasn't around to get a picture of this carpenter bee!

M

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We get them every year, hovering around the wooden lintel over the front door. This year I've seen at least three, the last couple of years only one. They are not agressive in anyway, but I'm still not sure how deep they burrow in the wood and if I should be worried about any potential damage!
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  • 5 months later...

Margaret, we may not be talking about the same thing, however, i have seen a large black wasp like creature, (nothing like a carpenter bee by the way) it was shaped more like a british wasp but 3 or 4 times bigger and totally black, it also had either extra legs or really long hairs sticking backwards out of the abdomen i think, and i heard it coming for age's it was really loud, have no clue what it was, but can spear it's no carpenter bee, the carpeter is quite pretty, this wasn't, was quite scary, also, my friend in work managed to kill one, and brought it in to work in a normal size match box, it only just fitted! really wanna know what it is, because have not seen it even searching through google, by the way am in uk, where are you?

regards

dave

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  • 5 months later...

margaret, dave, all

am a bit late on this but if abyone is still interested, i have a wisteria which attracts big (1 1/4 inch long, 1/2 inch wide) black bees. They're shiny, with iridescent blue wings. I have seen as many as 7 or 8 when the blossom is fully out, my experience is they aren't aggressive though do check you out quite closely which can be a little worrying. I live in normandy btw. i've been looking on the internet, but haven't yet made an id. i looked at carpenter bees, but they don't fit. i'm now quite used to them and look forward to them coming, at this time of year. was watching them earlier today, which prompted me to find out what they are, and was how i came across this thread. now hornets really are nasty, be careful with them!

stephen

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margaret, dave

update everyone, i take that back, it is a blue carpenter bee, Xylocopa violacea, image at  http://www.alamy.com/stock_photography/10/4/WildPictures/A3C8N3.html   

the images of carpenter bees i saw first were of american ones, with  brown jackets if you see what i mean. the ones isee are all black like in the pic. this is certainly my bees, does it fit yours, margaret ?

Stephen                                                                                                                 

 

 

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[quote user="Stephen"]

 big (1 1/4 inch long, 1/2 inch wide) black bees. They're shiny, with iridescent blue wings.

[/quote]

Stephen, I don't know where in France you are, but I get a lot of those, they are supposed to be Mediterranean (are they confined to this area?), latin name is Xylocopa violacea, length 22mm.

They seem very inquisitive, I have lots in the garden, and they look like they dive-bomb you but they are just coming in for a close look at you. Nesting in dead wood, active April-September.

Sorry my computer skills do not involve posting photos[+o(]

Is that the carpenter bee that everyone has been mentioning?

OOOPS sorry, hadn't seen previous post!

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blue carpenter bees are common in many parts of France - in our house they're known as Triple B's as in "Big Black Bees" - they love lavendar and anything smelly and so far as I know they do no harm. they appear very early in the year and stay until very late in the year.

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