Asiatic hornets

[basquesteve]

If you do not have Bee hives leave the hornets be they are great keeping other pests under control

[widge]

I was also going to say the same thing, unfortunately traps dont tend to discriminate, having said that, we do get a lot of hornets around, especially when it is cherry season (we have lots of cherry trees in this area), I have to admit we do put traps out, but just for a short time in the spring hopefully to reduce the queens a bit.

As far as wasps, the traps we use dont tend to attract them too much, but most of the wasps we get are the longer legged paper wasps they tend not to bother you too much, july and august we also get what they call the german wasps they do haveca habit of going after food, if you are eating outside, I also have started to become allergic to wasp stings.

[Polly]

I’m also allergic to wasp stings, effects of which have worsened over the last 50 years or so. Amazingly this year I’ve seen a total of 4 wasps, despite spending a huge amount of time in the garden, in the shade trying to stay cool. I find it worrying that so few wasps have been around as they are so useful.

I find it very annoying that so many people flap about when wasps are around, annoying them making it more likely that someone will get stung - quite often me, who sits quietly, but I always have an epipen nearby.

In our garden I put small amounts of jam out in little dishes where I’m not planning to sit.

[Loup-garou]

Last year we had a large wasp's nest in the ground aside and under the bird bath. The comings and goings were constant. They didn't bother about us so we put some chicken wire about 1 meter in diameter around the hole to prevent the dogs from sticking their faces into it.

It was quite pleasant to watch and listen at apero o'clock!

[Blaze]

Like Polly, I've seen very few wasps this year, apart from a few paper wasps. I like to photograph insects/butterflies/spiders etc etc in the garden and out and about and have noticed there have been fewer insects this year. Even the various types of hoverflies (syrphs) have been noticeable by their absence. I put this down to the fact that the farmers here have grubbed up the hedges and trees, and the use of pesticides.

Just a small point : Apparently male Asian hornets don't sting - it's the females that get you, same with wasps and bees .......

[exile]

I’m also allergic to wasp stings, effects of which have worsened over the last 50 years or so. Amazingly this year I’ve seen a total of 4 wasps, despite spending a huge amount of time in the garden, in the shade trying to stay cool. I find it worrying that so few wasps have been around as they are so useful.

I find it very annoying that so many people flap about when wasps are around, annoying them making it more likely that someone will get stung - quite often me, who sits quietly, but I always have an epipen nearby.

In our garden I put small amounts of jam out in little dishes where I’m not planning to sit.

That was me the last time but one I got stung - perhaps 10 years ago. Out on the patio enjoying lunch with extended family and a wasp decided to start flying around. OH and I said to the others to ignore it but of course they had to start flapping around. End result, it landed on my wrist and stung me. Despite immediately treating with vinegar the sting site became quickly swollen and ended up swelling between the first joints on my fingers up to the elbow and remained like that for several days.

I have since read that badgers like to dig out ground nests and devour the wasp grubs. Flapping our arms around is said to be a similar action to the badgers front paws digging the nest open and so wasps will instinctively go into protective mode and attack.

[Sparkle]

This article is why we have bought the traps. Earlier in the year and very late at night we had the outside door lamp switched on in order to see our way across the garden from the barn. We had visitors and their daughter aged 13 needed to go to the loo. We heard her shouting hysterically as she daren't go into the house because of the collection of hornets buzzing around the light. We had to go around to another unlit door to get her into the house. However, I can understand all the comments here on them being necessary but maybe we don't need so many of them ?

https://actu.fr/pays-de-la-loire/le-man ... 24991.html

[exile]

I could only read the first couple of lines since they wanted to access my computer via cookies.

That article seems to be about trapping Asian Hornets - with which I have no objections. They have no natural predators here in Europe and are destructive of our own eco-systems.

[Sparkle]

For anyone that may be interested.

actu Le Mans.pdf

[Lori]

We have both types of hornets here. There are so many of them, they are constantly swarming around us whenever we are out there. The sheer number of them is astonishing.

They are very aggressive, much like the horse flies. I've been stung twice and it was awful. We have traps on the terrace where we sit. If they weren't there, we would not be able to sit on our terrace outside of Winter. The wasps are aggressive too. They make nests under the roof tiles every single year and they will not give you any peace if you are sitting on the terrace. On a warm Summer day, there are hundreds of them.

I can tolerate a lot, but I'd rather not be run off my own terrace to get away from these painful creatures.