I took this one a few weeks ago. Amazingly the bush was full of these stripping the bark for nest building material. I say amazing as it seemed very late in the year to still be doing this. There were over 100 in this particular bush all working hard. Leaning in with a 60mm macro lens I was a little apprehensive but hornets reputation is somewhat tainted. Unless you are attacking their nest or killing them they are usually not aggressive at all. This one was cleaning sticky sap off its body and despite me being just a few cm away was happy just to carry on. Occasionally one would buzz around my head and at one point a hornet landed on my arm. It took off and carried on about its task. Despite what appeared to be a lot of damage to the bush, a few weeks later and there is almost no sign of the onslaught.
As per all my macro shots, this is a single frame of a live creature taken in the wild.
Excellent That is a great macro picture. It could not be any better. You are very brave!
Thank you kindly. I find all wasps and bees fascinating. Oddly, I have been stung many hundreds of times by bees back when my grandad kept them. So far I have never been stung by wasps or hornets.
Beautifully captured