Today at Charlecote in Warks we saw a large flying insect - about 2 inches long with a long abdomen - black near the thorax and yellow near the tail. It had an abdomen that seemed to taper towards the tail - and I didn't notice a slim wasp like 'waist'. Some one suggested it was a hornet but it didn't look like a hornet to me - it didn't have stripes like the pics of hornets I have seen. It flew quite fast around the NT cafe and didn't make a buzzy noise. Have you any idea what it may have been?
Thanks.
Hi Sue - probably a sawfly of some description - a member of the Hymenoptera or wasp family, the sawflies are seperated from the rest of the Hymenoptera by the absence of a waist. The wood wasp or horntail (Urocerus gigas) would fit your description, and tapers at the abdomen to a long ovipositor which is used to make holes in trees to insert eggs. Sawflies look ferocious but are harmless.
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