with imports happing a lot more now,,and things warming up temp from north france no diff south uk... when!! get a hold be no stopping them..only have to look on utube to what they can do to a hive of bees ...
? There are hardly any Asian hornet videos on YouTube. There are quite a few of the spectacular Asian Giant Hornet, but that isn't the one at issue here - thank goodness! Unfortunately, media reports often confuse the two. Had you any particular video in mind? I'd be interested to see if there is a good one...
I would certainly take care to notify CEH if I found an Asian hornet or a nest, as it's important to track the distribution of potentially important insects. Personally I'm not too worried about Asian hornets, although there is clearly the potential for localised losses if they do very well in one particular place, or have a particularly good year in their favour. On the whole, though, from talking to friends abroad, I gather that they are of most danger to weak/undefended hives... in other words, a similar predator to wasps, which, as we know, *can* pester a hive very badly but usually don't.
I definitely wouldn't like to anger an Asian hornet nest - they're a lot bigger than a European hornet's nest and, whilst not generally too aggressive, they would probably pursue someone for quite a while if really annoyed! I suspect that it's the concern for people, rather than honeybees, which will seal their fate if they set up home over here.
Edit: I've just discovered that you can find more relevant videos by searching in French (frelon asiatique) - there are a range of vids, including some really impressive big nests, plus a rather cool x-ray tomography of a nest. Not so much footage of them predating beehives though.
