Beantree Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 We're big fans of Strictly, although it's on a bit late for us. Also enjoy It Takes Two. The big European Hornets nest finally fell out of the poplar tree, having withstood several storms in the last year. Started to shed the outer skin but it was a surprise that the inside landed from 20 metres up with so little damage. The structure is amazing, with each layer of egg chambers hanging off the one above it. About the same diameter as a football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Wow! That’s impressive @Beantree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 OMG - I have never seen anything like that. Does that mean one year you had a colony of hornets hatching on your land? Every year we get small nests from paper or thread wasps, which only have a dozen chambers or so, the whole thing is about an inch long. The nest has a thin 'stalk' which attachs itself to the host, which is often an agapanthus leaf, or window frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursula123 Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Snap @Beantree, mine is still up in the tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 What a fantastic thing to have and to be able to see close up. There was one on the outside of a doorframe of a sewage works I used to have to visit for work but it was occupied so I never got to have a really close look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Fascinating, who knew hornets nests were a bit like buses...! Thanks for posting both of you, I feel I know a bit more about nature than I did this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Was up in the loft yesterday and found two hornets nests in there. I was actually trying to find out why the air recirculation system from the fire wasn't working; mice or rats had eaten through the ducting! When we arrived here hornets nested in the chimney above the cooker. It's an old chimney so very wide, but it had two huge nests in it which blocked the extractor fan. Main problem was the hornets trying to get to the nest. Seems they don't have a route as such, just directional sense, so trying to reach the nest via the kitchen was a regular occurrence and we were swatting up to 20 a day. We only have one TNN left. She's 9 years old now and hasn't feathered up very well after her moult. It's turned cold here and she was suffering, so we decided to bring her in overnight to sleep in a cage in 'sick bay' (bathroom). Well yesterday evening she disappeared! After a thorough search of the house and a lot of calling with no reply she was finally found; settled down on the desk between the laptop and the printer, looking decidedly comfortable there as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 😁 You and MrsBT are very brave, I'm not sure how I'd take to sharing my kitchen with some large hornets. You mentioned a pepper tree in a previous hornet post, is this one which grows pink berries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 I meant to say 'poplar' tree @Daphne. The European hornets are quite docile but the Asians can be deadly. They sting for no reason then lay a pheromone trail back to the hive so the rest can follow it to sting you. There are several people killed each year by them. We had a hive of fluffy black beens in a hole in the wall behind a shutter. The Asians found and destroyed it; the bill from the pest control man was €150! There has now been an Asiatic hornet spotted in M*****ille, but I don't know anything about them other than it was felt serious enough to put on the news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 I have been to the vets 3 times in the past 4 days, and more times than I like to remember over the past 2 years, with the acquisition of a daft rescue kitten who is now a daft grown up cat. OH tried joking with the vet yesterday that the cat represented her pension plan, but it got lost a bit in translation. Anyway, the practice is on a main road in our local small town. Next door but one is a vacant plot of land, below street level so you don't easily see it, with a dozen olive trees and a lot of bare earth. More interestingly there is also a flock of about a dozen chickens which I had managed never to notice before! There is at least one cockeral, something that looks like a marans, a couple of naked necks, assorted brown hens and a black brahma - I have never seen a brahma in Portugal, so I am very excited. Our next vet visit is on Tuesday, so I am going to have another look and see who else I can spot! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 For those struggling with Christmas present ideas Oxfam have chicken gift cards where you can 'buy' and 'donate' a chicken to a family! ATM they are on sale at £9 until Sunday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 On 11/25/2021 at 4:41 PM, Daphne said: I have been to the vets 3 times in the past 4 days, and more times than I like to remember over the past 2 years, with the acquisition of a daft rescue kitten who is now a daft grown up cat. OH tried joking with the vet yesterday that the cat represented her pension plan, but it got lost a bit in translation. Anyway, the practice is on a main road in our local small town. Next door but one is a vacant plot of land, below street level so you don't easily see it, with a dozen olive trees and a lot of bare earth. More interestingly there is also a flock of about a dozen chickens which I had managed never to notice before! There is at least one cockeral, something that looks like a marans, a couple of naked necks, assorted brown hens and a black brahma - I have never seen a brahma in Portugal, so I am very excited. Our next vet visit is on Tuesday, so I am going to have another look and see who else I can spot! Daphne did you shout ‘Chickens!!!!’ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Well I did rush into the vets to tell OH, much to the bemusement of the woman also waiting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 The high winds and rain we've had for too many days now have stripped the leaves of our two huge oak trees, one at either end of the plot. And guess what's in them both. Yes, two more hornet nests, both larger than the last one. I would say one is about two feet across and three feet high. We're in the process of going through our wine store. Some of the bottles are getting rather old and two have been poured away because really they were not drinkable. A while back we won first prize in the Christmas raffle of the local wine co-operative; a nice basket full of goodies; brandy, wine and things. One of the bottles of wine we have tried is 'Tentations 19' which was rather nice. The conversation went as follows:- "We've got another bottle of called Tentations 18, but I don't know what the difference is?", "One", "Eh?". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 Beantree I have visions of you drinking your way through your wine store! Do not go near the hornets! Yesterday we 'bottled' the wine we made this Autumn - its gone into a mix of 5l bladders in boxes and 5l carafes. Its not marvellous, but it is OK and will do fine as 'house red'. There are 2 batches made from different grapes varieties, one harvested from land about 20 miles away. They taste very different and I have to say they are both nicer than some other wine we were given which we also bottled. Anyway, both OH and I were very light headed yesterday morning. Partly because you have to suck the end of the siphoning tube to get the liquid to flow, but mostly I think because of the fumes (I wasn't doing the sucking, but I did feel lightheaded). We are now the proud owners of just under 30 litres of red, 10 litres of grappa and 30 litres of olive oil. I feel like a proper local! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 Living the dream Daphne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 Anyone watch the F1 today. Wow! Nearly lost my voice on the last lap!! Your man did it Catttails 🙌🏻🙌🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 On 12/12/2021 at 11:16 PM, mullethunter said: Anyone watch the F1 today. Wow! Nearly lost my voice on the last lap!! Your man did it Catttails 🙌🏻🙌🏻 😂 I was just wondering who was so daft to light all those fireworks… 😅 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 We haven't got the time or space to brew wine @Daphneat the moment, but we have plans to develop a store room at the back, so perhaps one day? We'd certainly use the olive oil though. Saw the F1 highlights this morning @mullethunter; crazy driving and a surprise the complaints about it were dismissed. It came as a surprise to us when we moved to France, having only visited on holiday, that absolutely everything is different to England. Simple examples are:- all the house windows open inwards so the profession of window cleaner doesn't exist, all doors lift off the hinges, electricity supply is limited by your tariff and is usually 3 phase, water pressure is so high the fittings blow off hosepipes, the electrical sockets are different and are in bathrooms. The list is endless and today I discovered another one; door locks. The garage door lock/latch has been showing signs of imminent failure; this could be a massive problem as it's the only way in. So the lock came off today for inspection and probable replacement. Made in France stamped on the inner plate it has a small screw in it which just had to be removed out of curiosity. Quite a surprise that it holds a service plate in place which, when removed, allows inspection, removal and greasing of the internals. UK locks cannot be disassembled. Works a treat now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 On 12/13/2021 at 11:30 AM, Beantree said: all doors lift off the hinges That’s a brilliant idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 On 12/13/2021 at 11:06 PM, mullethunter said: That’s a brilliant idea Dutch doors do too… how ever do you guys fit doors then???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 They use 'butt hinges' for just about everything, so the only way to remove doors and windows is by unscrewing the hinge from the frame, which is a major pain as it involves either two people or the use of packing to support the door. There is one exception called a 'rising butt', which is used to raise the door as it opens to compensate for an uneven floor and they do lift off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Taking doors off isn’t too bad - I can do that by myself by balancing it on my foot when I’m undoing the last of the screws on the top hinge. I haven’t found a way to rehang one by myself though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted December 18, 2021 Share Posted December 18, 2021 I have my own hornet story! OH has seen a large nest hanging in a cherry tree about 1/2km away from our house. According to a local, there are 4 of them within a kilometre. He sent me a pic, which looks just like Ursula123's. The local thought they were Asiatics, but I'm not convinced, we do have quite a few European's buzzing about all summer. A friend who was staying with us was so bothered by a door sticking in the summer, he took it off (easy here in Portugal too) and sanded it. The trouble is, in the winter the door shrinks back again and now it doesn't line up with the lock! Yesterday I went for a walk from my Mum's house and found myself thinking I used to walk through this field (now full of houses) 50 years ago to get to school. I feel ancient! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted December 18, 2021 Share Posted December 18, 2021 I think the reason they have lift off hinges here is because the doors move around so much @Daphne and they need so much adjustment. In the UK it was (might not be now) always damp, so no need to take the doors off. When I was a child we had a swamp near the back of the house (Shropshire). Came as a shock when they built houses on it and no surprise when they all sank into the swamp and were uninhabitable. The fields we played in are now housing estates; we lived at a lucky time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
