Out of my hands!

Eventually the outcome of the Hornet dilemma was out of my hands.  Yesterday afternoon Hairy Hubby was spotted at the bottom of the garden with a can of fly spray and some duck tape.  I was sad but it was the practical solution really, especially because the Grandkids are here.  As he said the nest could have and probably would have got much bigger and become a problem.  The workers kept arriving back at the box with food but could not get in.  Eventually they gave up and must have moved off somewhere else.

"I'm sure there was a door here somewhere"

Once the terrible deed was done, I could not wait to see inside the box, after giving them overnight to die off.  There is only a small door at the back of the box so the view inside was limited but there was the beginning of an amazing structure inside.  It made me realise that if they could construct this much in just a few days,  just how much they would have built if left to their own devices.

The hole at the bottom is the nestbox entrance

When we emptied it all out there were several dead Hornets although not as many as I imagined, plus the Queen who was huge, much larger than the workers.  She must have been about 3 cm long and the workers about 1.5 - 2 cm. 

What a big girl she is!

The structure itself was amazingly full of grubs which were still alive and wriggling despite the fly spray killing their parents.  It looked like something out of a horror film, they were really fat!  It was a shame we do not still have our Koi pond, the fish would have enjoyed them.  Then I noticed something else moving.  There was a fully grown Hornet about to hatch out of one of the cells.  You could see its jaws chomping away to make its escape.  Then a leg appeared, thrashing around, trying to climb out.  Hairy Hubby dispatched the lot humanely (according to him) with a boiling kettle.

Wriggly grubs and a Hornet leg trying to get out!

It made me feel quite ill, although looking back I wonder why because really I should have been fascinated by the wonder of nature. I can only put it down to the images portrayed by horror films which make it all seem so gruesome and preconditioning us to think that insects are horrible. I must try harder not to be such a girl next time.  Although I hope they don't come back because I feel terribly guilty even though none of it was my decision.