OK, Hornets? Yep. It is a given fact that they are generally much larger but this is a European burrowing species that is rather common in the South of France. It is also a common misconception that these beautiful creatures are dangerous and aggressive. They are not and they do appear to be rather curious. They are on the constant prowl for flies and tiny moths that could cause harm to the flowers. The same goes for their bigger brothers. These too are a non aggressive species and have not done anything to deserve their negative reputation.

OK, minor update- edit. I was not after the hornets when I planned this shoot. I was aiming to capture the hummingbird hawk moth in flight but these gentle wasps were a far greater delight to capture. They participated and even though there were hundreds of them about, this is one of three shots which has more than one hornet in focus... of over 120 shots taken... so there is a rather small rate of success. These hornets would fly, hoover and revert to sucking the nectar... in a rather predictable way, whereas the hawk moth would spend less than a second at each flower before racing off again. With the latter I had more success around lavender flowers.