There are still so many surprises left. Like the scent of a bean field wafting up the lane to meet you. Or the fact that a comfrey flower takes 40 minutes to fill back up with nectar once a bee has emptied it, while bird’s foot trefoil takes a whole day and a night. And then there’s vespa crabro, the European hornet. Having lived my life in the north of England, I’d never encountered one before, but recently they’ve been spreading up from the South East. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock of seeing one suddenly flying out of the bird box. Two and a half inches long, hooped with yellow and terracotta red, the queen hornet bore down on me. As though freshly escaped from a fairy tale, it buzzed in my face and stared eye to eye, as though demanding my credent