HUG A HORNET! Well, no – don’t actually. But then when David Cameron used a similar strapline to attempt to lessen alienation of youth culture, how many of us actually went out there and physically manhandled someone in a sweatshirt?
Nope, me neither. So, for the next few minutes, think ‘metaphorical hug’ and find a little space in your heart for one of the most irrationally feared insects we seldom see in East Devon.
It was a piece on Radio 4’s Today programme that made me think of this topic, as it was a classic case of the easy scapegoat being blamed rather than the tougher questions being faced.
The recent death of someone from anaphylactic shock, after stepping on a hornet, initiated calls from the House of Lords for control of hornet numbers and the issuing of adrenalin shots to all who are susceptible to anaphylactic shock.
Over reaction? Well, yes. The thing is, hornets are an easily vilified creature whereas the cause of society’s increasing incidence of super-allergy is worryingly unclear.
Although the incident that initiated this media outburst was unarguably tragic, the facts behind the story are far less horrifying. However, it’s the poor hornet that cops the flack. Even though I bet you can’t remember another person dying from a hornet sting?
The truth is that hornets are a large, vividly coloured, aggressive-looking insects with A Sting! Shock-horror! This sting, however, is much milder than commonly feared, the toxin being no more powerful than that of a common wasp. But their size and noise have lead over time to wildly exaggerated claims of their danger, to the point where it was believed that seven hornet stings would kill a horse!
This is definitely not the case and studies have shown hornet stings to be less potent than honey bees. One theory put forward is that a bee’s sting has evolved to defend a hive, with all that precious honey, from attack from animals with a sweet-tooth, normally birds and mammals. On the other hand hornets and wasps are all carnivorous, being predators of insects, so their sting has developed to incapacitate invertebrates effectively. So a wasp can’t waste its toxin, as it needs it to feed – whereas a bee is putting its life on the line when it stings to defend a valuable resource.
Hornets are very much the gentle giants amongst social wasps.
In the UK there are nine different species of social wasp, including the small black and yellow things that interrupt summer picnics. Britain’s common wasp and germanic wasp are the two species you are likely to see people panicking over; flapping wildly, running away and screaming. A response which is only liable to increase your chances of getting stung!
These common wasps are adaptable and able to live in towns and cities with ease, making them by far the most probable wasp you will come across in your daily life. Hornets on the other hand are uncommon in the UK and, where they do exist, they are denizens of deep woodland rather than urban fringe.
I have seen hornets in the wonderful Holyford Woods Local Nature Reserve, but otherwise they are not a common sight around the district. The only times when I have got really good close views is on holiday in continental Europe.
A flowering magnolia was providing hunting opportunities for the local hornets and the sight of 20 or so of these magnificent insects, buzzing loudly round the tree, was quite incredible!
I have to admit my heartbeat was racing as I approached, but the allure to get a closer look was just too much.
As long as you do not interfere with the hornets you can get very close without being in any danger of getting stung. One even landed on my arm as it staked out the tree.
So hornets are just getting on doing what they have done for hundreds of thousands of years, clearing up woodlands of dead or dying insects. We, on the other hand, have a much more troublesome problem to deal with; and its not big, buzzy and stripey; and its not (yet) been the subject of a Holywood horror film.
Why, exactly, are cases of allergy becoming commoner? Speculation ranges from diet to modern sanitation and the rise of the antibacterial surface wipe (if anything was a more cynical marketing ploy in advertising history I’d like to know about it). But the fact remains, more people are hypersensitive and anaphylaxis is becoming more widespread.
Before we reach for the fly-spray, perhaps we should have a little look at the ingredients list and think what the cocktail of chemicals is doing to the human inhabitants of the house as well as the vespulids.