It is strikingly yellow striped and emits a low-pitched hum when it flies. Insect expert Tarja Richter can understand that hornets frighten some people. “It’s big, hums loudly, and that sounds very menacing too.”
And then there’s the common misconception that seven hornet bites could kill a horse and three a human. Hornets are not only very peaceful, they are also much more shy than their annoying wasp relatives, who often disturb you when barbecuing or eating ice cream in summer.
Nevertheless, significantly more European hornets (Vespa crabro) were sighted this early summer in the “Insect Summer” hands-on campaign. The Bavarian nature conservation association LBV and the German Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) called on people in Germany to count the insects in their environment over a period of ten days in June. Compared to the previous year, the hornet flew 19 places ahead and ended up in 11th place among the most frequently observed insects. But is it actually more common? And if so, why?
Compared to the common and German wasps, the hornet, which also belongs to the group of wasps, is rarer, explains the LBV expert Richter in Hilpoltstein. “But stocks have recovered compared to the past decade.” This is confirmed by the Munich bee and wasp expert Leander Bertsch, who is currently revising the red list for wasps with other experts. “Hornets are particularly protected. But they are no longer endangered.”
Hornets are increasingly moving into settlements
According to Richter, the fact that the big buzzers are seen more often could also be due to the fact that hornets are increasingly moving from their natural habitat to settlements. They normally nest in tree cavities in sparse forests and on the edges of forests. But because natural tree cavities have become rare, they look for other nesting places, of which there are plenty close to people: for example in roller shutter boxes, old sheds, between walls or in niches in the attic.
With luck, in early summer – i.e. during the counting campaign – you could watch the queen, which can be up to 3.5 centimeters tall, as she explores the area for a suitable nesting site and collects soft wood as building material. Worker bees hatch from the first eggs, and they then continue to build the nest and take care of the larvae, as Richter reports. Young queens and males, called drones, later hatch from the eggs.
“The adult hornets are vegetarians. They feed on nectar and plant juices,” explained Richter. The larvae, on the other hand, are fed with insect meat. According to the Federal Environment Agency, a colony of hornets eats about half a kilogram of insects a day – and thus also keeps pests such as houseflies, horseflies and wasps at bay. Hornets are therefore extremely useful and by no means as dangerous as people say: their sting is no more poisonous than that of a bee or wasp, according to experts.
Hornets are useful and harmless
If you discover a nest in the garden or on the house, you don’t have to do anything in principle, says wild bee and wasp expert Christian Schmid-Egger from the German Wildlife Foundation in Berlin. “Hornets are relatively peaceful. If you stay a meter or two away from the nest, it’s not a problem.”
In any case, the animals are under species protection and may not be killed. Nests may only be relocated by experts in exceptional cases after consultation with the nature conservation authorities. The problem usually takes care of itself in the fall, explains Schmid-Egger. Because then all the hornets in the nest will die. Only the young queens overwinter in a shelter and usually build a new nest in a different location the next year.
The fact that more hornets were counted at this year’s “insect summer” could also be due to a distortion, believes Schmid-Egger. “Hornets are in the media massively right now.” This is mainly due to an invasive species, the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina). This spread in Rhineland-Palatinate and partly in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. There are also individual occurrences in Hamburg. The ecologist assumes that the species will spread throughout Germany in the next few years. So far he does not see a danger for the native hornet.
Loss of habitat greatest risk
The greatest threat to them is habitat loss, says Munich expert Bertsch. “It depends on functioning ecosystems in which it can find enough insects for its larvae.” He also thinks it’s possible that people paid more attention to hornets this time during the “insect summer” because of the Asian hornet. At the same time there are natural fluctuations. “When the spring is warm and insect-rich, hornets can thrive,” he says. “It may also be that both come together.” So have a good hornet year and more attention.
The hands-on campaign will enter a second round in August. From August 4th to 13th, the population can again count the insects in their environment for one hour. The probability of observing hornets could then be even higher, according to the LBV. Because in late summer a hornet colony reaches its maximum of up to 700 animals.
