Site of the Week
http://members.tripod.de/Hornissenschutz/hornets.htm Hornets
Most people run a mile and call the fire-brigade if they come across a hornet. This is perhaps understandable - hornets are pretty fearsome-looking things, they sound menacing, and they have a reputation for angry attacks on innocent bystanders.
But this site, by a German hornet evangelist, aims to educate the world about the natural history of the hornet, and encourage their protection by explaining why there’s really nothing to fear from these “gentle giants.”
The story of how hornets go about their lives is fascinating, but the pictures are the real jewel in this site’s crown. Spread through the text, the thumbnails open up to brilliant high resolution photos, and some of them are incredible - take a look at this one http://members.tripod.de/Hornissenschutz/optijpg/futter.jpg for starters. Even more photos can be found in the galleries at the end of the text, as well as sound files and even a video. They aren’t joking when they say it’s short, though - it’s literally one second long.
Having browsed through and admired their beauty and ingenuity, the site’s author hopes that you may even want to set up a hornet nest box. For those of you who don’t feel quite ready to go this far, at least now you’ll know not to panic and kill any you might run into. (Those of us who are allergic to them will be excused if we still feel the need to run away quickly.)
Richard Northover
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