It was a beautiful hot sunny day so decided to go for a walk in the fields around the village (Sambourne) and stumbled upon a Hornets nest in an Oak tree. The nest was in a hole in the trunk of the tree about 18 inches from the ground at the edge of a field. It would probably have gone unnoticed but I saw something large buzzing around and stood to see what it was and if it would settle. It went to the small hole in the Oak and I then realised it was a Hornet and there were several more around. I was only a couple of feeet from the nest and they had obviously spotted me and I was soon being checked out by 6 or 7 more Hornets so I moved away 10 feet or so and they went back to their business.
They were not agreessive to me but they clearly didn't like me being too close to the nest so I took 2 or 3 pictures then retreated and let them settle back down and then went back and took a few more and retreated again.
I did that 3 or 4 times and decided I had distubed them enough ( and had maybe pushed my luck far enough! ) and moved on. I just wish I had spotted the nest earlier in the year as it will die off soon when the weather gets colder and will not be repopulated next year.
Hornet - Vespa crabro
Hornet - Vespa crabro
Hornet - Vespa crabro
Hornet - Vespa crabro
Hornet - Vespa crabro
