Hello my wasps,
How is life treating you this week? My life is just buzzzzzing at the minute... literally!
Now, as you all know I’m not exactly into bugs 😬 and I definitely don’t do spiders 🕷 but this week I’ve had to be brave and embrace wildlife 😆 On Monday morning I went out into the garage and found imagine 1 below sneaking across the floor. It was black and orange and 4-5cm long! With children in tow I did what every good parent does and said, “Oh look at the beautiful insect. Isn’t it... ah... wonderful looking!” My face said, “🥳 haven’t we found something special,” but inside I felt more like 😱. I immediately ushered everyone back into the house to get my phone to photograph this magnificent 😳 creature. After a quick google, see image 2 below, I discovered it is called a Giant Horntail and it is indeed harmless even though it is a relative of the wasp. Not one part of that name made me feel any better!
Giant - terrifying
Horn - painful
Tail - ok not the worst but combine it with the rest and it’s awful
My solution was to put a chinese take away container over the top 😆 Brian’s solution was to take it outside, see image 3. I went to bed that night happy knowing it was outside and I was inside.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning and what did I find in my garage? Yes, another one! See image 4 below. A smaller one, which at first you might think is better but then you start to wonder where the smaller one came from 😳 Smaller usually means younger, which usually means siblings, which always means aaaaaahhhhhhh! Again my solution was a Chinese takeaway container until I had time to make my heart as brave as my smiling face 🤦🏻♀️
Once I got myself together I decided that as they live in wood and I had fire logs stacked in the garage, they HAD to go. I found the wheelbarrow and off to work I set, see image 5. I now have a beautiful stacked pile of logs outside my garage. Job done and hopefully insects out! My neighbours were all very interested in what I was doing as it isn’t often you see me with a wheelbarrow in the rain 😁
It actually was amazing to see the insect as it’s colours were beautiful but let’s be honest, I don’t want any lodgers in my garage 😆 Has anyone else ever come across a Giant Horntail or any other interesting insect? Pictures would be delightful if you have any.
Hopefully that’s the end of the insects at my house but I’ll keep you up to date.
Chat soon
Madam Ladybird 🐞
Menu
