Hungry Hornet Hunting Flies

Occurred on August 19, 2020 / Dohr, Germany

Info from Licensor: "Sometimes it takes a little longer before the hoped-for recordings succeed. It took me over 3 years of preparation for these spectacular scenes of hornets hunting. I live in the Eifel, a low mountain range in Germany in the small village of Dohr. Every day I am out and about in the great outdoors with my cameras and document the animal life in my homeland. Usually watching hornets like this is more of a coincidence. Hornets hunt very quickly and unpredictably. Having the camera in the right position is not that easy, and slow-motion shots lack the autofocus that is so helpful for photos. I also need at least 1 minute to set everything up, and then the hunt is usually long over. This year in August everything worked out fine and I was able to capture extraordinary shots of these fast predators. A hornet colony has settled in my garden and so hornets are constantly on the move and I was able to study their preferences and behavior exactly. With 250 and 500 frames per second and with different cameras, I was finally able to film the desired scenes. My working distance is often only a few centimeters. This summer I was only stung once, and that was my mistake because I was standing exactly in the flight path to the nest and the animal was not prepared for a collision with me. Hornets are feared, but actually they are very peaceful animals that are also very suitable for observation at close range. As long as you don't bother the nest area, don't make quick movements, don't hit them or blow on them, you have little to fear."