Hornets (no, not THAT one)

[amberel]

I've a cache that's been disabled for the last 6 weeks or so because hornets built a nest right next to it, and a visiting cacher got stung. I'm guessing they will have gone by now, and plan to hike up there tomorrow just to make sure before re-enabling it.

Question is, are they likely to return to te same place next year?

Rgds, Andy

[*mouse*]

Not if you trash the nest.....
(were they there when you placed the cache? Therein may lie the answer)

[amberel]

Not if you trash the nest.....
(were they there when you placed the cache? Therein may lie the answer)No, but I placed it early in the year. The hornets appear to have arrived only in the autumn, which surprised me a bit, I'd have thought they would have stayed in the same place for at least one season.

Is good, anyway, I don't want to have to move the cache.

Rgds, Andy

[Pharisee]

I've a cache that's been disabled for the last 6 weeks or so because hornets built a nest right next to it, and a visiting cacher got stung. I'm guessing they will have gone by now, and plan to hike up there tomorrow just to make sure before re-enabling it.

Question is, are they likely to return to te same place next year?

Rgds, Andy
Not sure about hornets but if they're similar in habit to wasps then no. Wasps never return to the same nest, they always build a fresh one somewhere new (or so I've been told).

[Mrs Blorenge]

Interesting question. I thought it was time I should increase my entymological knowledge, so I've just been searching...
Apparently hornets are "social wasps", which makes them sound positively friendly!

This morning I found the following facts*

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/wasp.htm
"After these wasps have left the nest on their mating flights, the colony quickly declines and eventually dies out during the autumn as food becomes scarce. Only the young mated queen wasps survive through the winter, ready to start new nests in the following spring."

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th4a.htm
"Sometimes they use the same site year after year (although a completely new colony)."

http://www.arrestapestgidding.co.uk/pest_control/wasps_and_hornets.html
"...new queens who leave the nest in October and hibernate over winter to emerge next year and start a new nest. The colony all die off soon after this and the nest will never be used again."

*So it seems the "facts" are variable. Maybe they're just "guidelines" ;)

[Lost in Space]

.. Wasps never return to the same nest, they always build a fresh one somewhere new...

Nobody told that to the wasps that used to nest in my loft when we had a plum tree in the garden..........

Neil

[markandlynn]

OK ive phoned my pest control help line.

Wasps and Hornets do not leave a pheremone or other marker for any location they place a nest into.

Nests are located purely on the basis of food (like a nice plum tree) so if the area has ample food they may return or may find another suitable place to build there nest.

CLuster however flies do leave scent markers so large colonies can build up over years as they scent mark locations to cluster over the winter months but they dont sting :socool:

Hope that helps

[Team Sieni]

According to this website http://www.localhoney.co.uk/aboutbeespages/wasps.htm

"By the end of Summer, all wasps leave their nests and do not return, so the nest can then be removed in safety if you think it is necessary."

Hornets are a type of wasp, so this probably holds true for them too.
Mind you, if it was an attractive spot for hornets to make a home this year, it may still be attractive next year too.

It is most best
Most very best
To frown upon a welcome guest
To frown and weep
O lackaday!
Then to tie him to a hornet's nest
And steal away.

Mervyn Peake

[Lost in Space]

..Nests are located purely on the basis of food (like a nice plum tree)...

Thanks, much as I regretted the loss of plums, (Victoria ones at that), the loss of wasps was worth it..........

Neilo

[The Hornet]

Thanks, much as I regretted the loss of plums, (Victoria ones at that), the loss of wasps was worth it..........

Neilo

The lengths you'll go to to avoid a Hornet!!! :lol: (and wasps)

[Lost in Space]

The lengths you'll go to to avoid a Hornet!!! :lol: (and wasps)

Funny, the wasps never went for my strawberries - The Hornet did..:mad::mad:

[amberel]

*So it seems the "facts" are variable. Maybe they're just "guidelines" ;)That made me chuckle more than any posting I've seen for quite a while :).

Thanks to everyone who has posted, too many to reply to individually.

I visited the cache and they have indeed now gone, so the cache is re-enabled. If they come back next year I'll have to move it.

Rgds, Andy

[sandvika]

That made me chuckle more than any posting I've seen for quite a while :).

Thanks to everyone who has posted, too many to reply to individually.

I visited the cache and they have indeed now gone, so the cache is re-enabled. If they come back next year I'll have to move it.

Rgds, Andy

I got a chuckle from the wasp nest placement guidelines too :D

Well, Alan White discovered a wasps nest at a waypoint on one of our multi-caches last year so I temporarily relocated it. Funnily enough, I put it back where it belonged on 15th November 2007 after the first frost and there have been no mentions of wasps this year.

So to the pathological wasp and hornet haters, if you see one over the winter, it's probably a queen, probably docile because it ought to be hibernating and destroying it might well ensure you don't have a nest in your loft or garden next year!

However, please be sure that it is a wasp or hornet. There are many solitary bee species and many are in severe decline (along with the honey bees) and I'd be sorry to see them to be pushed closer to extinction.

[Rampton Broadmoore]

How about several strategically placed wasp / hornet traps, baited with a suitable attractant?
I know the eco-hippies will be up in arms at the loss of a few hundred wasps and hornets, but when all is said and done, they are a pain in the ass (often literally!), and I for one have no qualms about wasp genocide!

I am not suggesting total anihillation of a colony, but just enough to keep the area reasonably safe..


ME.

[The Hornet]

How about several strategically placed wasp / hornet traps, baited with a suitable attractant?
I use an empty jam jar (still with a bit of jam inside), half filled with water, and pierce a hole in the lid. Never fails to kill loads of the little ******s!

Edit to say I never knew this forum censors certain words!!! I did not originally type ******s - it started with b, u had a couple of g's, an e and an r in the original ;)

[Lost in Space]

A Hornet trap? Just shout "the drinks are on me................"