Scary looking Great Wood wasp, Giant Horntail

[JasonM]

Nasty looking thing, but harmless apparently, quite large, about 4cm long. I was keeping a close watch to make sure the dog didnt snap at it.
When it was under the ledge, it was trying to stab its egg depositer into the wall, glad it didn't manage it!

[Qatar-wol]

He's a big bugger! Great photos - I think my camera would have been shaking too much!

[JasonM]

Thanks Walter, yes, it was massive!
Surprisingly these were IPhone photos.

[PawG]

I’ve seen one of those before! They’re huge.


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[petethegeek]

Are you sure it's not a slow worm?

[blackal]

"NOPE!"

I was in a shower on a campsite in France, and looked up to see a hornet! Made a hasty exit from that shower!

[sickie]

I think I would of ran.
Great photo tho.

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[tuscanracer]

"NOPE!"

I was in a shower on a campsite in France, and looked up to see a hornet! Made a hasty exit from that shower!

Or is that the story you told the Gendarmes!

[blackal]

Or is that the story you told the Gendarmes!

Hair still loaded with shampoo, grabbed towel and legged it!

All that nakedness, and what looked like a wasp on super-steroids!!!

[sundial]

A type of Sawfly ... 'Siricidae' species ... this specimen is a female Urocerus gigas and is fairly common

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkG8vr1haws. ... the ovipositor which is used to bore into pine is actually housed within its 'sheath' ... visible when in use and more slender than the sheath

I've seen them at a local nature reserve but so far not succeeded in obtaining a decent photograph.

dunk

[xellos99]

never seen one in my life and i am more outdoors type than most people

[sundial]

never seen one in my life and i am more outdoors type than most people

Some years ago at Castor Hanglands near Peterborough a whole area of pine forest which was planted in the late 1940s was cleared ... many trees were diseased ... they'd been planted too close together.
I saw the horntails ovipositing onto the stacked pine trunks ... they prefer 'unhealthy' pine.

dunk

[TheFlyingBanana]

"NOPE!"

I was in a shower on a campsite in France, and looked up to see a hornet! Made a hasty exit from that shower!

That could have been nastier than your worst nightmares…

I was stung on the thumb by a hornet many years ago that had got into my bed. I felt something moving, reached down to grab it and blam! The pain was extraordinary and my entire hand swelled up like an inflated rubber glove.

If that had stung you in the gentleman’s area you could have been done fore, but the ladies would have probably been impressed before you expired.