Big Stingers

 

Inspecting the moth trap has recently become slightly perilous as we have a nest of hornets in the house eaves and they have taken to coming to the light. I like them in spite of their fearsome appearance and they are famously mild-mannered. However, I have discovered a new use for our kitchen tongs.

Here's the record tally for a single night, above, and below you can spy a hornet keeping a beady eye on my old enemy the Robin; and vice versa. Neither made a move although the Robin sadly managed to swoop in on an Angle Shades before I could shoo him away.

We managed to expel a couple of hornets from our bedroom after leaving the light on and the window open for a little too long at night, absorbed in our bedtime books. But the most interesting drama came when we watched, somewhat awe- or horror-struck, an epic battle between another of the stingers and a remarkably cool-headed and methodical spider.

My vid of the battle is too long to post but here are some rather blurry stills. The strength and gluey-ness of spiders' web is just astonishing, as is the spider's sure hold on the web as it swayed and hurtled too and fro. The hornet made Herculean attempts to escape but, as you can see below, to no avail.

Nature is not for the faint-hearted!