Monday 6th October 2025

I have seen ads on the back of buses and online regarding Asian Hornets, and various organisations wanting sightings of them to be reported.

Even still, even I was stunned by Monday's turn of events.

It all started with sleeping in to seven, and getting up and the usual.

I have kept my old work mobile number, so do get spam calls or stuff from agencies, so when the phone rang at just before nine, I thought nothing of it.

I picked up the call, and I could hear background voices: a call centre.

But no.

Is that Ian, a lady asked.

Yes.

Are you the Ian who reported the Asian Hornet yesterday?

Yes.

We are half an hour away, have you still got the wasp?

Yes.

So it was that at quarter to ten, two ladies and two gentlemen from the Ministry arrived, and in their electric car they had vials, tubes and lots of paperwork.

I went to say hello and give them the late wasp.

It was put into a test-tube of fluid, so it can be DNA tested to see if its from any known nests.

I took her to meet Di and Steve, and they recounted their tale, pointed to the vent the hornet was coming out of when they nabbed it.

Pheromone traps were place in Di's garden, and all around the area up to 500m distance, and we were told they would come back daily to check.

Heck.

Jools arrived back from swimming halfway through this, with people putting up bait traps on lamp posts and the like.

After an hour they left, but amazed at how one small-ish wasp/hornet caused all this.

Its just how serious the problem is, if the Hornets migrate north as Ivy Bees have done.

I went for a walk round the neighbourhood to try to find the traps or other hornets.

I saw neither.

We had little to eat for lunch, so we decided that we should have lunch out.

I drove us into Deal, though two sets of roadworks.

It was a glorious day: no clouds, blue skies, warm sun and light breezes. It was just like summer, but without people or traffic.

Just how we like it.

We parked up, and were going to walk to a pub along the Strand, when a Mexican place jumped out in front of us.

Mex-on-the-Beach was almost empty, but we could smell garlic prawns, and it was that that lured us in.

I had a small dish of nachos, followed by a pulled pork burrito, whilst Jools had the prawns followed by a burger.

It was dame fine food, and we were stuffed afterwards. So much so that the walk along the pier turned into a waddle across the road, take pictures and waddle back to the car.

I drove us home.

It was more than warm enough to sit on the patio, surrounded by three out of four cats, while the birds chirped about how I should really be refilling the feeders.

There was no dinner or supper, and I was so tired I went to bed at half seven, and was asleep by nine. Not before Jools had called me out to see the nearly-full moon rise, with flocks of birds flying across the fields looking for a roost.