Huge hornet's nest discovered in Baldham.
“I've never seen anything like it in my 80 years,” says the homeowner.
Baldham
- "I've never seen anything like this in my 80 years, even though I'm from the country," says Josef Fischbach.
The Baldhamer is full of awe: Hornets have built a nest in the roof of his house and it is now around 65 cm high.
The Fischbachs noticed the nest at the beginning of August.
"The animals come through a gap in the glass shingles on the roof," explains Irmgard Fischbach.
Since then there has been a lot of flight activity on the upper floor, there is buzzing and humming all day long, but this does not bother the couple because the attic is not inhabited.
Irmgard Fischbach comes up every day to ventilate the buzzing room and then watches the insects in amazement.
“They are very peaceful, I can go in and out here without any problems.
Even when I measured the nest with the ruler, they did nothing to me. "
"Hornets are peaceful animals as long as you don't disturb them"
“Hornets are peaceful animals as long as you don't disturb them, like wasps, by the way,” confirms Karin Hilpoltsteiner from Baldham-Dorf, and her husband, beekeeper Otto Hilpoltsteiner, reports: “Many people call us in panic as soon as they see a wasp - or discover hornet's nest.
But the animals are under nature protection and are only relocated in exceptional cases, for example when there is danger because the nest is in the nursery.
But even then, the resettlement may only be carried out by experts and with the approval of the Lower Nature Conservation Authority. "
Hilpoltsteiner advises calmness.
The Fischbachs did everything right: "We have sub-tenants who can live with us rent-free," smiles Irmgard Fischbach and her husband says: "They only stay until winter anyway."
"As soon as the first night frosts set in, the workers die"
Otto Hilpoltsteiner can also confirm this: “As soon as the first night frosts set in, the workers die.
For this, several queens are born in October.
They then look for a dry place close to the ground to overwinter, for example a pile of wood or the like.
There they are frozen in winter and in spring they build a new nest. "
Incidentally, it consists of rotten wood that the hornets eat and mix with their saliva.
This then results in such filigree architectural marvels as in Fischbach's under the roof.
BY SUSANNE EDELMANN
