Hornet/wasp in February

kuepper wrote: »

Got the shock of my life last Thursday 27th Feb night when a huge wasp flew out of my fireplace, had a mosy at the curtains and then got fascinated by my lampshade crawling in and out of it until I sprayed it dead. Told a friend today who said it must have been a hornet based on the size. I'm worried that it's a sign i've got a nest in the chimney. Is there anything I can do / should be doing or do I just wait and see?

It was almost certainly a queen wasp come out of hibernation early. She wouldn't have hurt you but she was pregnant and would have started a nest somewhere (ususally outside) in the next few months. Wasps are very useful in the environment and eat a lot of harmful insects. The only wasps around now are the queens, which are noticably bigger than the worker wasps, the others die off in the autumn and the pregnant queens hibernate over winter. The reason she went to the light-fitting was the light and warmth.

Hornets are much bigger than even queen wasps, as in double the size, and drone like a distant B52 bomber when they fly, so you'd know if you had one of those. They're also colony insects and the ones around now will be the pregnant queens. They're rarer than regular wasps and are mostly to be found in woodland.

Please, anyone, if you can leave the wasps alone, or open the window to usher them outside, do so. I've lived in several houses with indoor wasp nests, and have had bumblebee nests in the ground on my allotment, and these creatures are fascinating and mostly harmless to humans.