Marshwood Vale, Dorset Workers grab their prey in flight, and dismember it, discarding all but the meaty thorax before returning to the nest
On the way upstairs, I hear a deep, droning buzz, loud as a distant engine. Then the sound of crashing as something collides weightily with the lampshade. Sudden silence. Where has it gone? Ah, there she is, resting on the wall by the bed, banded abdomen poised and pulsing, brown legs spread, one antenna delicately patting the wallpaper. Vespa crabro vexator, the European hornet subspecies found south of a line running from the Severn to the Wash.
Unlike bees and wasps, hornets fly both day and night, preying on moths and insects. They are attracted to light and, if we leave the bedroom window open on warm autumn evenings, they tumble inside. We have to turn off the exterior sensor-activated security light completely, otherwise it will be on all night as they dive-bomb the bulb, their bright bodies illuminated gold like sparks from a bonfire.
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Source: Guardian Environment