Hornets

I haven't blogged recently because I have had very little to say, but an article in the Mendip Times recently caught my attention. In the November edition, Chris Sperring wrote "Sting in the Tail" about European hornets. Apparently there has been a huge increase in these insects in Somerset in the last two summers. I can (somewhat unscientifically) corroborate this as I have seen three (one in our office and two somewhat alarmingly in our house) earlier this month, despite never having noticed them even in our garden before now.

The article was actually quite reassuring as apparently hornets are not aggressive at all (unless you are close to their nest) and are in fact the "gentle giant" of the wasp world. Has anyone else noticed an increase in hornets, and, do they pose a threat to our bees like wasps do in terms of robbing? The article states that 40 Asian / Japanese Giant Hornets (a non native species and not in UK) can kill 30,000 European Honey bees but makes no mention of the likely behaviour of the European hornet.