Up close and personal

The hornets are still around but in smaller numbers.  I now think the nest must be a bit farther away in the woods than we first thought.  The most hornets visiting the maple syrup at one time was eight, whereas there are probably a couple of hundred in the nest.

We have still only seen two males but I think some of the larger females must be new queens.  These are probably all workers.

Workers were still hunting just over a week ago, which meant they were still feeding larvae, and as the pupation time is around 15 days new hornets will still be emerging next week.  However, if they don't visit the maple syrup or the ivy flowers in the warden's garden it will be very difficult to tell what is going on.  Let's hope we see a few more.