Yesterday there was an unusual large wasp in my lounge . the window it was on doesn’t open & as one of my cats was watching it I put her out of the room & sprayed it with wasp killer & disposed of it when it was dead.
I hate killing things but I am not sure it was a wasp, as it was black with grey stripes.
Three hours later I heard the buzzing sound again, only to discover another one moving inside my cardigan…only this one was twice a big with a body length of almost 3cms. I removed my cardigan threw it on the floor & covered it & the clothing in wasp spray & disposed of that one.
It wasn’t a hornet & I am sure it wasn’t an ordinary wasp, so i just wondered is anybody had any ideas?
1 Like
Shame you didn’t photograph the deceased…
From your description, I’d hazard a guess at a foreign hornet.
To be honest Barry, I was so alarmed that I just wanted to get rid of it.
In Michigan USA they have a Cicada killer wasps that are black with white stripes, grow to berween 1 & 1.5 inches and apparently they won’t harm humans unless provoked. They were similar but I would be surprised if they were in the UK.
I have never seen one in the UK that is, as big as this and black & grey or white!
Anyway these 2 didn’t have Covid passports so they shouldn’t have been here ! 
The only grey/black and white flying insect I know is one of the mining bees.
Wood wasp ?
Twink, the only thing I can find that is like you describe is something called the Bald Faced Hornet, though they are thought to be rare in the UK.
Was it like this?
Thanks Mups ! No it wasn’t one of those as there was no white at the front of the body. I am glad it wasn’t because apparently they can kill a nest of bees in a very short time!