Our Banded Hornets' nest is gone.
My most recent post – Who Robbed the Coucals? – suggested that maybe it was Asian Giant Hornets or Banded Hornets that broke into the nest of our pair of coucals and ate the eggs.
But I thought I’d ask for an expert opinion. I contacted Associate Professor Paitoon Leksawasdi, an entomologist at Chiang Mai University.
The culprit? Asian Giant Hornet queen.
We have a pair of Greater Coucals in the garden. They’ve tried many times to raise young, but without success.
For some reason they seem to favour a stand of Buddha bamboo right in front of the house. It should be ideal – the bamboo is very dense and although it won’t keep snakes out, it deters our cats.
Fields of sunn hemp, which is harvested to make organic fertiliser.
Continuing our wanderings in the Khao Yai area, we were taken by friends to the Jim Thompson Farm in Pak Tong Chai. The 600-rai farm was set up by the silk maker, initially to ensure a steady supply of mulberry plants and silkworm eggs. These days they grow a lot more there, including some of the largest pumpkins I’ve ever seen.
I Googled “World’s largest pumpkin” and found this site, and the pumpkins at the JT Farm are smaller. (For the record, let me state that I’m not a pumpkin expert, nor do I go round the world looking for giant pumpkins.) But they are still pretty darn big.
