And speaking of venomous insects

A hornet has taken up residence in a crack in our outside wall, just above the back door to our yard.

Hornets are rare in Germany, so they're protected by law.  If we kill it, we're subject to a fairly whopping fine.

The good news is that the only hornet in Germany is the European Hornet, Vespa crabro.  While not exactly a cuddly pet, V. crabro is much less aggressive than its American cousin the Bald-faced Hornet.

The less good news is that, starting with a single queen, a V. crabro nest can have a couple of hundred individuals by the end of summer.  This seems like a lot.  And while the websites agree that this species is not necessarily agressive, they're also full of admonitions like "don't get too close to the nest" (it's 30 cm from the top of the door) and "don't get between a hornet and its nest" (um).

There are things to like about life in the countryside!  It's a beautiful day outside, all blue and green and sunny.  Yesterday we had a thunderstorm -- it lasted just twenty minutes, but we all stood by the back window watching hail come down.  (Hail is always cool, even when it destroys stuff.)  Flowers are everywhere; the poppies are finished, but the roses are in full blast.  The cherry tree is ripening; we pick a few cherries every day and they're very sweet.  Later there will be plums and quinces, and then apples -- all growing in our yard.  And then of course there are the birds.

On Saturday we had our housewarming party, and everyone had a good time... neighbors and family sitting around tables in the back yard; coffee and cake in the afternoon, brats and beer and Indian food in the evening; little boys splashing in the little blue swimming pool, shrieking with delight when swung high, high in the hammock; candles in the twilight and finally a few survivors trekking indoors to watch the Russians surprise the Dutch on TV.  It's really nice sometimes.

It would be petty of me to mention the hay fever.  I took an Allegra this morning and I'm fine.

So on the whole, I like it.  It's just...

Comments

[Christine]

So, what ARE you allowed to do about hornets?

[Luke]

I'd suggest switching from Allegra to Zyrtech or its general-brand competitor there in Germany. I took the former until I tried the latter, and it's much more effective.

[Noel Maurer]

Yeah, what the hell /are/ you suppsed to do about the hornet? Like, seriously, you can't just leave it.

So how whopping is whopping? And why did you post about it here instead of just offing the damn thing w/o anyone knowing?

[Doug M.]

About an inch and a half long -- a bit more than twice as long as a honeybee, and eight or ten times as massive. Like a St. Bernard next to a beagle.

Oh, the /fine/. In theory, up to several thousand euros.

[shrug] I'm taking the chance that the Bavarian Endangered Insect Protection Corps is not reading my blog.

Doug M.

[Noel Maurer]

You live dangerously, sir.

[Andrew R.]

Question from the medievalist who has exactly two semesters of undergraduate biology for non majors: How exactly does "produces hundreds of offspring in one summer" go together with "endangered species?"

[Doug M.]

By insect standards, the hornet is a K-strategist. Over the same period, a pair of houseflies could produce millions of descendants.

Also, hornets suffer the usual problems of top predators. Anything that hurts their prey species hurts them. They're also very vulnerable to insecticides -- dosing a field kills a lot of insects, but leaves an even large number of of woozy, half dead bugs staggering around. These are easy prey to hornets, which then drop dead from the cumulative dose.

And! Hornets are also prey themselves. From a bird's POV, a hornet is a big, slow-moving protein-rich food object -- like a slice of extra cheese pizza droning past. Several bird species have worked out adaptations for dealing with the stings.

And then of course, if they're not protected, people just kill them.

Doug M.