Wasp?

[di]

I've just seen a really odd and quite nasty looking 'thing'...initially I thought wasp and I still think it was but it was quite a bit smaller and thinner than normal ones and had purple transluscent wings.
I did brave google for a second but honestly felt sick after the first pic....any ideas?

[rustylady]

A picture would really help

[FB.]

There are many types of wasp.
Many of the really scary looking ones are solitary and use their sting to stab an egg into a caterpillar or some other suitable host, where the wasp larva grows and eventually bursts out as an adult wasp - like in the film "Alien".


Hornets resemble gigantic wasps (3-4cm/1.25-1.5 inches long) with red-ish tints. You'd know a hornet of you saw one - and I'd advise to keep well clear of a hornet.

[di]

Sorry...I posted this and forgot

Thankfully I've not seen anymore...I've seen many different wasps but never one with purple wings

Sorry no pic.I did try to find one on Google images but a screen full of wasps really did make me feel quite ill.

FB...I had no idea they did that,it really has made my stomach crawl.

[smallblueplanet]

Hornets resemble gigantic wasps (3-4cm/1.25-1.5 inches long) with red-ish tints. You'd know a hornet of you saw one - and I'd advise to keep well clear of a hornet.

Although after googling for info on them, apparently hornets are less aggressive than wasps - perhaps they're big enough to not be bothered! We've had some 'thrumming' (buzzing isn't quite right for hornets I reckon!) around our eaves and in a bird box at the bottom of the garden. It was making a nest in the bird box and I'm afraid I decided that even if they are less aggressive I wasn't keen, so sprayed the box with water from the hose (after watching that it had flown off 1st of course).

[Madasafish]

I disturbed a nest of hornets in a plantation once.

Fortunately I can run..

The others with me were slower...

[FB.]

Although after googling for info on them, apparently hornets are less aggressive than wasps - perhaps they're big enough to not be bothered! We've had some 'thrumming' (buzzing isn't quite right for hornets I reckon!) around our eaves and in a bird box at the bottom of the garden. It was making a nest in the bird box and I'm afraid I decided that even if they are less aggressive I wasn't keen, so sprayed the box with water from the hose (after watching that it had flown off 1st of course).

Perhaps they are less aggressive - I've never dared try to annoy one and I don't ever plan to!
I've passed hundreds of hornets while out in the countryside. None of them have ever bothered to even give me a fly-past, but I carried on with my journey in a calm kind of way and didn't stop!
Most hornets that I've seen have been in gangs of about a dozen or so, which makes them seem even more fearsome. Probably all feeding on the same thing, but also, since hornets are quite rare, they were all probably from the same nest and able to work as a team if they planned to attack me!

In fairness, wasps and hornets do good things and bad. Hornets are fairly rare, so I wouldn't want to see them eradicated, even though I treat them with great respect.
Much of the summer, they eat other insects and caterpillars. Only later in the year do they sometimes attack your ripe fruits (although I've never seen a hornet on a fruit tree, but that may simply be becase hornets are rare).

[FB.]

I disturbed a nest of hornets in a plantation once.
Fortunately I can run..
The others with me were slower...

How badly did the others get attacked?

[Madasafish]

Three stings for two. One hospitalised with 20+.

[smallblueplanet]

Perhaps they are less aggressive - I've never dared try to annoy one and I don't ever plan to! ...

Last summer next door had an outdoor birthday party with a small marquee. They hung an lightbulb up in the middle so we could see to party late on. It not only attracted late night revellers it also attracted 5 or 6 hornets! They popped in their house too as they'd left the door open & light on. They also paid a visit to our other neighbours house upstairs lights that they'd left on. Fortunately when they returned to discover the hornets they were too 'merry' to worry about being stung as they kindly shooed them all out of their house! Didn't realise hornets were atrracted to lights, but they were...