Dr Fred Ayres, Chair of Lune Valley Beekeepers, explains why Yellow Legged Asian hornets are a major threat to the UK’s pollinating insects, and what you can do to help stop them…
The Yellow Legged Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) is an aggressive, invasive species that preys on a wide range of pollinating insects.
It can eat up to 50 honey bees a day!
This can result not only in significant losses of crops growing in gardens and allotments but shortages of the berries and seeds that sustain the birds and wildlife.
The hornet arrived in France around 2004 and is now established in 14 European countries. It was first found in the UK in 2016 and is now present in at least 15 different counties.
With nests found last year in Runcorn and North Wales and a lone worker found in Preston, this invasive predator is not too far away and will, inevitably, arrive!
So that we might get as much warning of this as possible we are asking all members of the public with gardens and allotments to join our spring trapping programme.
Yellow legged queen Asian hornets emerge from hibernation in late February to early April. They are very hungry which makes this a good time to trap them before they can start their
nest building activities.
In order to avoid trapping smaller insects, we have a special type of trap which allows any
smaller insects caught in the trap to escape but retains any hornets.
The trap comes with full instructions as to how to bait it and where to place it.
We will collect any hornets caught and send them to the National Bee Unit for genetic analysis to establish whether they come from a fresh source or an established UK stock.
If we are to stand a chance of minimising this menace, we need as many people as possible to join our trapping programme.
So, if you have bees, a garden, an allotment, farm or other land, you can help!
Traps cost only £5 each and are obtainable by contacting Lune Valley Beekeepers on
info@lunevalleybeekeepers.co.uk.
