European hornet

This is the first hornet I have seen in a long time.  It was hunting around the flowers at high speed so presenting a very difficult target for photography but I managed a couple of half decent shots.  Photos taken at Coton, Northants.

Eventually it caught a honey bee.  I'm not sure why it chose that one as it had flown past dozens of other without attacking.

The European hornet (Vespa crabro) is large social wasp with a life cycle similar to the common wasp (Vespa vulgaris).  It eats insects such as bees, moths and wasps but is not a major predator of honey bees.  The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) was accidentally introduced to France from China in 2004 and is a very serious threat to honey bees.  It has become a major concern for French beekeepers but has not yet reached the UK.  Several recent hysterical newspaper reports all mistake a scary-looking but harmless giant wood wasp or horntail (Urocerus gigas) for an Asian hornet.