Asian Hornet

[Luminos]

Heads up, ex-pats - saw an Asian hornet buzzing around my front porch this evening...

 

[Chris Luck]

Killed 6 Queens in the last two weeks.....

......and I'm an immigrant not an ex pat.

Chris

 

[MMJ100]

Thanks, I have not seen any yet. But I am all prepared with traps and hopefully deadly mixture.
BTW I only ever saw a few at a time last year and thought the normal hornet was more efficient in capturing bees than the Asian one.
Also I am an Englishman living in France !!!

Good luck in your hornet hunting
Michael

 

[cjhart2]

Heads up, ex-pats - saw an Asian hornet buzzing around my front porch this evening...

Knocked one off yesterday, The new electric bats seem to work, still jump when you hear the crack of the electricity discharging . Looks like a bad year developing .

I am a tourist . Can not afford the French taxes .

 

[MMJ100]

Hey thanks!

So the electric (tennis look a like) bats work on hornets.

Great fun as Asian hornets hover and could be easier targets than the mosquito - let battle commence!

 

[cjhart2]

Hey thanks!

So the electric (tennis look a like) bats work on hornets.

Great fun as Asian hornets hover and could be easier targets than the mosquito - let battle commence!

Yep , If you read back some of Chris Lucks posts on the Asian Hornet problem you will see he uses non- electric rackets , i just took it to the extreme . The problem with my method is when the batteries fail and i do not notice i will have a slightly stunned but p***** off hornet chasing me up the hill and i am slowing down in my old age !!!!!

Also improves you back hand . See you at Roland Garrous in the final .

 

[nikca]

Yep , If you read back some of Chris Lucks posts on the Asian Hornet problem you will see he uses non- electric rackets , i just took it to the extreme . The problem with my method is when the batteries fail and i do not notice i will have a slightly stunned but p***** off hornet chasing me up the hill and i am slowing down in my old age !!!!!

Also improves you back hand . See you at Roland Garrous in the final .

You FOOL! Forehand for Asian Hornets - backhand for European!

Saw my first Asian Queen today, but as she was eyeing up trees around the lake, and my badmintion racket was in the barn, I had to give her the first set.

 

[MJBee]

You are 2 up on me Chris, I have only trapped 4 so far this year. Traps have been deployed for a number of weeks and have so far only caught Asian Hornet queens - The long winter seems to have done some good after all.

 

[Chris Luck]

The subject of this thread was ASIAN HORNETS and every QUEEN SHOULD BE KILLED...

.....muddying the water with the pros and cons of native wasp family control helps nobody in my definitely not humble opinion.

Chris

 

[Hivemaker.]

Ten posts deleted in this thread...please keep strictly to the topic of Asian hornets

 

[dclewis]

So far not seen one at all yet, but reports are they have made to the Orne but not the Eure as far as I know. Maybe this year.

 

[Chris Luck]

Got one today in its little primary nest that someone spotted and called me about.

Chris

 

[dpearce4]

Got one today in its little primary nest that someone spotted and called me about.

Chris

Any chance of a photo of the nest so us on the south coast know what to look for please?

 

[Chris Luck]

Here...

More..

http://www.planetepassion.eu/WILDLIFE-IN-FRANCE/Asian-Hornet_Vespa-velutina-nigrithorax_Frelon%20asiatique_France.html

Chris

 

[BeeJayBee]

That's a good picture Chris - but have you got any more pictures that offer a better scale of the thing, maybe seen from a distance, so we can see how big the nest is in relation to other things? (I have looked at the linked site)

 

[MJBee]

That's a good picture Chris - but have you got any more pictures that offer a better scale of the thing, maybe seen from a distance, so we can see how big the nest is in relation to other things? (I have looked at the linked site)

The nests I have seen vary in size from golf ball up to tennis ball. Once the queen has reared enough workers they move to their secondary site and begin to build the enormous nest that they use until the frost kills them off. Trapping queens while they are actively seeking food to raise their first batch of workers saves a lot of hassle later in the year.
Mike

 

[cjhart2]

Just found this in "the connexion " . an english speaking newspaper in france .

Village has too much money
April 29, 2013
A WINDFARM has given a small Tarn village a multi-million windfall - and a headache. The mayor says the council does not know what to do with the money.

Since the windfarm was built at Arfons in 2009 the village of 182 inhabitants has seen its budget soar from 400,000 euros to 2.3 million euros.

Mayor Alain Couzinie told France 3: "It's like gold has rained on the village!"

He said he had asked officials to come up with ideas to improve people's daily lives and they had suggested a campaign against Asiatic hornets, refurbishing the village phone kiosk and installing speed-calming measures on the main street.


Shows the importance France is placing on this mater .

 

[itma]

Just found this in "the connexion " . an english speaking newspaper in france .

Village has too much money
April 29, 2013
A WINDFARM has given a small Tarn village a multi-million windfall - and a headache. The mayor says the council does not know what to do with the money.

Since the windfarm was built at Arfons in 2009 the village of 182 inhabitants has seen its budget soar from 400,000 euros to 2.3 million euros.

Mayor Alain Couzinie told France 3: "It's like gold has rained on the village!"

He said he had asked officials to come up with ideas to improve people's daily lives and they had suggested a campaign against Asiatic hornets, refurbishing the village phone kiosk and installing speed-calming measures on the main street.


Shows the importance France is placing on this mater .

Presumably Clochemerle is out of print?

 

[victor meldrew]

Wild China on bbc2 right now was showing a couple of guys catching a hornet by baiting a long pole with a grass hopper, then carefully lowering the pole and tying a white feather to a hornet whilst it was preoccupied butchering the grasshopper. As it flew back to it's nest ,they followed it and ,again using a long pole ,tied a burning rag to it and set the paper nest on fire!
VM

 

[Chris Luck]

Wild China on bbc2 right now was showing a couple of guys catching a hornet by baiting a long pole with a grass hopper, then carefully lowering the pole and tying a white feather to a hornet whilst it was preoccupied butchering the grasshopper. As it flew back to it's nest ,they followed it and ,again using a long pole ,tied a burning rag to it and set the paper nest on fire!
VM

That would go down a treat here, we have enough wild fires as it is, even bonfires are illegal through the summer months.

Chris