European Hornet

Resting in the sunlight on a primrose leaf this morning.  The Vespa Crabro (European Hornet) is larger than the Asian hornet and less likely to sting than a wasp or a bee but when it does it is much worse!  This happens when it feels threatened or someone is too near to its foodstuff.  Mainly carnivorous, it eats different insect species.  We usually have hornets somewhere on the farm every summer and at least in one of the houses nearby.  One year there was a nest in the pipe of the muck spreader and we had to get the vermin man from the Council to deal with it - successfully.