unwelcome guests

In addition to testing positive for covid-19 two days after returning to Hong Kong and the subsequent 11 days in isolation, another surprise awaited when we finally got home. In April 2020, I wrote about ‘an uninvited guest’, a mere potter wasp that had decided to construct a ‘nest’ on our balcony. But potter wasps are solitary creatures, and what this individual was building was merely a series of three processed mud ‘pods’, each of which would house just one larva. And I did get some great photos, including one that showed a large, live caterpillar being pushed carefully through the entrance hole, which would subsequently be sealed, to serve as food for the growing youngster inside. We even saw the potter wasp’s handiwork being parasitized by a cuckoo wasp, which behaves exactly like you would expect with such a name.

This time, however, the situation was far more serious. We discovered a huge hornets’ nest on our roof:

This is a closer view of the nest:

We needed to call in the cavalry, in this case a team from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, to remove it safely. We weren’t sure how long this was likely to take, and I took a few more photos five days after the initial discovery:

I also shot a short video:

However, shortly after taking these photos and shooting the video, Paula called me to let me know that a team from the Ag&Fish was on its way. When they arrived, I took them up to the roof to show them the nest, and I took this final photo:

When the team had finished its work, I was warned not to go up onto the roof for a few days. At the time, I thought that this was because returning hornets would be seriously pissed off to discover that their home had been destroyed, but when we did go up again, we found that the floor was littered with dead bodies, from which I conclude that the team used a powerful insecticide in addition to removing the nest itself. This is what the nest site looks like now:

When we first discovered our unwanted guests, I did wonder whether we were hosting Asian giant hornets, which have been reported in Hong Kong, but when I did some research, I learned that these so-called ‘murder hornets’ grow up to 45mm in length. I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to have been wrong about something!