Huge mystery insect- thought it was a hornet, but...?

[beekake]

Any ideas what this might be? It buzzed past my mating nucs a couple of times today. It was probably around 2inches to 3 inches long. Almost caught it in a flowerpot, but it got away just as I was thought...'Gotcha!'.

didn't want to tackle it with bare hands...look at its rear end...

 

[itma]

Sawfly?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Wood wasp, they like larch trees, the large spike is the ovipositor.

 

[beekake]

I've never seen as big an insect in my garden in my life before...it hung around flying above the garden for a while...the sound its wings made when flying overhead was incredible!

 

[itma]

Wood wasp, they like larch trees, the large spike is the ovipositor.

Which are types of sawfly! (I couldn't remember the specific name... )

 

[enrico]

Wood wasp is my vote

 

[deanrpwaacs]

Female giant wood wasp .

 

[deanrpwaacs]

Looks like its got a kind of corset on .

 

[masterBK]

As a former Zoologist can I add the following info.
Both sawflies and horntails (woodwasps) are classifed in the Hymenopteran sub order Symphyta as the adults have a broad junction between thorax and abdomen and the larvae are caterpillar like

Ants, bees and wasps on the other hand are classifed in the suborder Apocrita as they have a narrow junction (waist) between thorax and abdomen and have grub like larvae.

 

[bontbee]

Ahh, so that's what I buried in expanding foam when I raked out (most of) the rotten wood from my window cill and did a temporary repair. The poor old thing must have pupated in the remains of the cill then managed to chew its way through about 3" of foam and a couple of layers of exterior paint. I could hear it as it munched its way out and had to lift my jaw off the floor when it finally appeared. Quite striking, I thought - or something like that!

 

[BeeJayBee]

Goes to show it takes a lot more than some expanding foam to stop a determined insect. Nice story