guard hornets at nest entrance (vespa crabro)

European hornets (vespa crabro) usually seem to leave one or two guards at the nest entrance. The guards try to grab or touch anything coming into the nest, or even going out.
The nest is in a tree in Warwickshire, UK.

These hornets grow to about 4 cm (one and a half inches) in length, though the queen reaches 5 cm (2 inches). The rear half has the familiar yellow and black stripes of the smaller "common wasp", but the front half has a distinctive plum-red colouring.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• hornet
• vespa
• crabro
• guard
• wasp
• yellow
• jacket
• yellowjacket
• nest
• rowington
• baddesley
• clinton
• warwickshire

[AnthonyUK]

@redindus69 No this is the European Hornet(vespa crabro), it is common to Europe and southern england as far north as East Anglia and The Midlands. Further north we get it's more troublesome cousin the Common Wasp(vespa vulgaris).

[redindus69]

Wondering if they can be found in New York, North of Albany? All i can find is White Bald Faced Hornets, alot of them around here.

[skydive911]

I just saw one in my backyard! it was like 3 cm tall and not aggressive at all! of which i was surpsised. It was eating a pear that had dropped from a tree.

[TzeffNL]

Guard works hard better than most human "guards" ...

[Foxstab]

@john17972 If I'm not mistaken, for the most part, they're genetically and physically nearly entirely identical. There are no such things as personality deviations as to be'lazy or be distinctively physically weaker than the others.

[AnthonyUK]

They are not as aggressive as it's troublesome cousin the common wasp(vespa vulgaris), but they will still go for sweet stuff and can still pack a punch with their sting.

[katdenmark]

Nice video - they are very sweet and also live in Denmark as you can see in my video Giant Hornet / Wasp from Denmark .

[Monteguy88]

Cool video... Maybe it's just me, but those things seem wayyy bigger than 1.5 inches... They seem like they're at least 4 inches... I know that they aren't, but they appear that way on film...