Asian Hornet in Hull and Liskeard

[DianeBees]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/asia ... d-and-hull

Asian hornet: Fowey nest destroyed as two new sightings confirmed in Liskeard and Hull
Two more sightings of Asian hornets have been confirmed and surveillance activity is underway.

The National Bee Unit has called for the public to report any suspected Asian hornets after two further confirmed sightings in Liskeard, Cornwall and Hull, east Yorkshire. At this stage, there is no evidence to suggest the Cornwall and Hull sightings are linked.

The Asian hornet is smaller than our native hornet and poses no greater risk to human health than a bee. However, they do pose a risk to honey bees and work is already underway to identify any nests in the Liskeard and Hull areas, which includes deploying bee inspectors to visit local beekeepers and setting up monitoring traps. As part of this work, bee inspectors from APHA National Bee Unit are carrying out surveillance and monitoring in a 1-2 km radius around the sightings.

The hornets in Fowey were first discovered earlier in September and the National Bee Unit moved swiftly to find the nest and remove it. During September the number of hornets in a nest can reach a peak and this will increase the chances of seeing an insect.

Nicola Spence, Defra Deputy Director for Plant and Bee Health, said:

These sightings in Liskeard and Hull underline the need to remain vigilant. I want to encourage people to look out for any Asian hornet nests and if you think you’ve spotted one, please report your sighting through the Asian hornet app or online.

While the Asian Hornet poses no greater risk to human health than a bee, we recognise the damage they can cause to honey bee colonies. I am therefore pleased our well-established protocol to contain them has worked so effectively in Fowey.

If you suspect you have seen an Asian hornet you can report this using the iPhone and Android app ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ or by emailing [email protected]. Identification guides and more information are available.


Please go and visit your hives and observe them this week! (And next!) as part of Asian Hornet week.

[nealh]

Not good news these new incursions esp so far apart certainly will be keeping FERA on their toes for time being.
Hopefully they are just incursions which appear so far to be contained.
With a lot of holiday makers/visitors and haulage by road via ports, means V.v queens will eventually find this means a good way of entering these shores to over winter.

[Newbee]

I find it troubling that the threat posed by the Asian hornet is largely unknown outside the beekeeping community. It seems to me that DEFRA and BBKA need to do much more to raise public awareness.

Relying on monitoring traps by beekeepers can only provide modest coverage of the UK and could provide a very unreliable picture of the scale of the problem. I don’t know anyone who isn’t a beekeeper who has even heard of the Asian hornet, let alone appreciates the impact they could have.

Much more needs to be done, including by BBKA, to raise public awareness now if we are to stand any chance of tackling the threat. Farmers, forestry commission, local councils, the National Trust and private landowners, etc should all be actively looking for Asian hornets as this will provide much great coverage of the UK. As it is, many, if not all, of the people working in the very environments where the Asian hornet is likely to be found may be seeing them regularly but without any understanding of what they are. Public awareness and interest is key and that simply does not exist at the moment.

[Nigel Pringle]

If what I understand is correct about the Hull AH it was found inside a house soon after the owners had returned from a holiday in France. But no official confirmation of this.

[DianeBees]

All suggestions welcome and will be passed on!

[Newbee]

the App is an excellent reporting tool, but simplifying an email address or providing other ways to report are of limited value if the wider public aren’t on the look out for Asian hornets. I was particularly struck from a visit to the Cotswolds recently that here are few people actively looking for Asian hornets and lots of space where they may be active but not attracting any attention whatsoever.

Having only started beekeeping this year I am now very aware of Asian hornets and see numerous reports, tweets and other social media images from BBKA and the NBU etc, but these don’t seem to be reaching enough people. I certainly had no knowledge of this before joining BBKA and none of my friends or family have heard of them.

I’d like to see a truest national campaign with WANTED posters and genuine press interest. I’ve seen no coverage on the BBC news app or elsewhere of the recent sightings. It may be hard to excit wider interest, but it would be good to try. I spoke with several National Trust gardeners at different sites and none of them had heard of the Asian hornet. They are much more likely to see one than I am, but if they do they won’t know what it is, the threat it poses or how to report it. That feels like a missed opportunity.

If a public information campaign is too ambitious, BBKA and DEFRA should target organisations like the NT so that the network of informed observers is expanded. It would also seem sensible that they be encouraged to set up monitoring traps so further improve the chances of spotting Asian hornets.

It would be great to see someone speak on Countryfile and other programmes to raise awareness. It could be a very news-worthy topic.

[Nigel Pringle]

if the wider public aren’t on the look out for Asian hornets. I was particularly struck from a visit to the Cotswolds recently that here are few people actively looking for Asian hornets and lots of space where they may be active but not attracting any attention whatsoever.

Unfortunately Newbee, the majority of the general public can't tell a bee from a wasp. Or a swarm of bees from bumblebees nesting in their bird box.. Let alone a European hornet from an Asian.
Getting them more involved might seem like a good idea but is likely to involve a 1000 "cry wolf" calls, tying up the NBU efforts chasing wild geese.
However, if a photograph of the sighting was insisted upon then it may be of some use.

Personally, I think it's too late they are already here and probably in several locations.
The constant accidental importation of queen hornets in timber shipments/plant pots/caravans/cauliflowers etc means that some are inevitably going to breed unfound....and once they get established it will prove very difficult to eradicate them.
I hope I'm wrong.

[Patrick]

Getting people to survey for something that we hope is not there to find is never going to be easy.

Beekeepers have a particular interest obviously but it may be that raising public awareness of seeing something different being possible is as much as we will get at the moment, I heard the Cornwall case on the local BBC SW Spotlight tonight and see AH references all over the place.

So there is some awareness out there.