Around October time hornet colonies start to break up, and the workers officially clock out to go partying.  After several months of unstinting duty towards the colony, suddenly it's their time to go a bit wild.

Mike Lucie from Kew Gardens kindly sent in this photo showing some Ash saplings being destroyed by hornets.  The damage isn't malicious.  The hornets are literally stripping the bark off to get at the alcoholic, sugary sap underneath.

Mike told us; "This bark stripping by hornets is not a new thing to us.  We've noticed this sort of damage many times in the past few years.  The damage usually results in the loss of the tree due to girdling, the process of completely removing a ring of bark, thus preventing food and water being transported up the tree."

If you've ever tried scraping the bark off those trees with your fingernails you'll know how much effort it takes, and it gives you an idea of the strength of those hornet mandibles.  They must be getting a really good 'hit' to warrant expending so much energy on the bark stripping.

Mike added; "As we watched these hornets at work we noticed some of them dropping to the ground where they lay for several minutes - apparently stunned.  They then got up, and after a few more minutes of disorientation, proceeded back up the tree to continue their work.  During this time they appeared intoxicated.  Their behaviour went on like this for most of the day so they seemed to be having quite a 'blow-out'."

Related Pages

• UK Safari Hornets Fact File
• Hornet Stings
• Invertebrate Section
• UK Safari News