I have heard on various e-mail groups that hornets appear to be having a good season and are being seen quite widely. Living next to a wood, I see hornets every year, as this is the habitat that they like, but I would have to say that they do seem to be seen more frequently this year.
One of the downsides to moth trapping by light during late summer is that occasionally wasps and hornets are attracted into the box. Hornets especially, can cause havoc by rampaging through the box and grabbing any unwary moths in its path. It is not uncommon to find in the morning that if a hornet has been trapped, that you are left with many moth wings rather than moths in the bottom of your box! This has certainly been the case this year, when several of my traps have also attracted hornets - luckily they are quite docile in the cool morning and can be removed fairly easily. I have attached a picture of a hornet on an egg box from the trap.
Another interesting hornet sighting from September 20th relates to an individual that I watched from the back patio during the afternoon. It had located a bush cricket that had fallen prey to one of the myriad of Garden Spiders around the garden. I watched it fly up to the cricket several times and actually land on it, but I was not sure whether it was stealing a crafty snack from under the eyes of the spider or whether it was trying to release the cricket from the web to take for its own. Either way, it departed without the cricket after a couple of minutes.
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