THERE'S a buzz in the air in Bispham at the moment -- and you could be forgiven for thinking it's a real hornets' nest as giant wasps make a home on the Fylde coast!

'Gigantic' wasps have been spotted by at least two on people on Hastings Avenue, following the recent warm weather and southerly winds.

One resident said she'd found what she thought was a hornet hiding behind the mixer tap in the kitchen.

"At first I thought it might have been a worker bee or a wasp or something, but it was about two or three times the size of a normal wasp -- it was massive," she said.

And her neighbour's daughter said 'a hornet' had turned up in their home too.

But Simon Hayhow, natural sciences curator at Fleetwood Museum, said: "I would think it's very unlikely to have been a hornet. They tend to be found in woodland where they nest in big trees.

"It could have been a horntail, which is actually a sawfly. And there are a number of other large wasps which are spreading northwards -- possibly due to global warming. Over the last two years six new insect species new to Lancashire have been recorded.

"It might also have been a queen wasp -- they tend to be a bit more active this time of year, setting up nests."

And this week's southerly winds have been bringing some unusual insects up from the continent, he said.

But don't panic -- the Fylde is not about to be swamped by swarming hornets. Apart from the risk of being stung Simon said there is 'nothing really amongst our insects that is highly dangerous'.

But he did appeal for anyone who manages to catch what they think is a hornet -- or any other unusual insects -- to get in touch.

"I need to be able to see it to identify it properly. If there are some hornets it would be quite exceptional," he said.