My dear brother is living in Japan at the moment, and this brute is native to him!
The Japanese giant hornet. Lovely.
Apparently it can spray flesh melting poison. Uuurgh. It'll happily chase you for up to 50 miles, and once it's squirted you other hornets in the area can smell you, find you and get stuck in to a jolly fun stinging session.
Just thought I'd share.
In other news, our cat Sparkle has settled down a lot since her arrival three and a half weeks ago. She still gets extremely jumpy at unfamiliar sounds (sizzling sausages sends her scampering for cover), but generally speaking she's much happier. Perhaps too happy - she likes to sleep on our bed at night, and cries if she isn't allowed. This issue still needs to be resolved! I don't mind either way particularly, but having a vibrating (purring) cat across your legs at 4am can be disconcerting.
