I haven't heard of the bees in decline here. The Giant wasps entering the hive, I wondered that myself, MB, just have an opening too small for the larger predators to get through. Only a partial solution, apparently.
The sting of those giants is far from pleasant. Once I was trimming the hedge out behind my shop, and ran into one. I must have upset it. I went and hid out in the shop for about five minutes, and even though the hedge is a ways from the door, immediately after I walked outside again, it came right after me in a straight line. I took off running and it stung me through my flannel shirt in the middle of my back. I thought it odd that it still had the memory of the encounter at the hedge, I guess they don't easily forget. It immediately felt like getting hit in the back with a baseball bat, a dull impact like pain, but the worst part was what started up the next day or two after, itching like I couldn't believe at the sting spot. You wouldn't think that itching would make you want to die, but it was like nothing I have ever experienced. Pretty incredible poison that melts human tissue, I read, and apparently the itching is the tissue trying to reject the infection. I guess it lasted about four or five days. Really terrible! I've read the sting described as initially like being plunged with a hot nail, but I found it more dull wallop like. A second time and they say you could be a goner. You do hear about deaths as a result. I'm rather paranoid of those wasps, and they are quite common during certain times of the year, like now.
Layoff the testosterone pills will ya
