Invasion

I try not to be wasteful but there are some things of which I'm very guilty. Be it for living on my own for many years, lethal cottage stairs or lighting a darker area of the house, there is a light housing a 10 watt energy saving bulb which I doubt has been turned off more than a handful of times in the past ten plus a lot years. If I went into how much I would have saved by turning it off, I'd still say I prefer the comfort and security of that light than the money. As the season draws in it gets darker and I already go to work and come home in the mornings in the pitch black of the countryside. I'm not scared by any means but I like the comfort of a single light illuminating the house and it provides just enough vision outside to avoid my tripping on steps and the uneven path to the car.

It's also a magnet for wild life! I regularly find new moths to ID and photograph although, mad as I am, that isn't the reason I leave it on. Last night a disorientated hornet was attracted to it. I simply turned it of and replaced the light with that of the kitchen to guide it away from the sitting room, and then the porch light to send it packing outside. Unfortunately my plan back fired when I decided it was a good occasion to send the dogs on their last to do of the night. As they went about their business I grabbed the camera to photograph the Hornet crawling around the outside light. . Oh dear... the hornets had become three and one dropped in my hair.

I know Hornets are docile and you have to squash them or threaten their nests to anger them to the point of stinging but buzzing in my tangles locks caused a moment of panic. I switched the brighter kitchen light on and stood under it which did the trick... one hornet out of danger but, another five had joined it under the light.

Removing all the hornets from the house should have been the end of the episode but, they must have dazed themselves bashing their heads against the hot bulbs. When the door was first opened this morning, they were still there on the doorstep, still alive but groggy. I lifted them one by one, putting them on a ripe pear to give them sugar, spent half an hour photographing them, then put them well away from where the dogs might find them. Two didn't make it but the others went back to the nest... now where is it? I am a glutton for punishment.