Asian Hornet - Gloucestershire

[Millet]

Open hive entrance, if its reduced the hornet has a small area to hover and catch a bee.

Remove landing board, I'll add a pic from this week, the hornet has a good rest before waiting to catching a bee.

Make sure grass is trimmed as long grass gives a good ambush

Set up traps with chopped off upturned 2ltr bottles, sweet stuff inside, I only ever catch a few as they are looking for protein right now.

Keep lots of hives in one apiary, it shares out the loss, with one or two hives I think the damage would be great, I think that is where the UK could suffer, although this wet spring here certainly reduced numbers, I'm guessing UK winter will make survival tough.

I do try and catch a few, either with an executioner pro or a badminton racket cuts them in half but it really isnt worth the effort, I dont think I ever make a dent in population.

Traps in October/November and from February work well as it gets the queens as does looking in old hives in storage, I've destroyed many traps early on.

Thats what I do rightly or wrongly, I'm very much open to tips too.

Put a opened up dead pigeon too one side and see if that will attract them.

 

[Erichalfbee]

https://youtu.be/Yin1eGivY3A[/url]

You will deal with it!!!

Thank you Richard.

 

[Tremyfro]

My OH captured this picture yesterday in the garden...anyone know what it is?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Keep lots of hives in one apiary,

I'm with you on that one - I've already told SWMBO it's only as a precaution against the asian hornet

 

[Plenty of honey]

Looks like a hornet fly. Different to a hover fly
And has a large abdomen with similar markings to that of common hornet Vespa Crabbo, hence the name hornet fly. Totally harmless and I think it probably does more good than harm.

 

[GaryB]

My OH captured this picture yesterday in the garden...anyone know what it is?

It's a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria). The largest hoverfly we have in this country, and is totally harmless, although they are pretty big, and do give you a start when you spot one. I have one that visits my garden hive almost daily. It hangs about for a few minutes, and then flies off. I think the activity around the hive must attract them. They only feed on flowers, and I suspect the pollen going into the hive attracts them.

 

[Tremyfro]

Thank the Lord for identifying it...phew...I had visions of men in white coats and masks descending on us!

 

[Karol]

Before anyone starts setting traps in spring it might be prudent to wait to see if there are any confirmed sightings of nests, gynes or drones. A solitary worker may well be just that - a lone insect brought in on a vehicle. Premature use of traps in spring is likely to have a wider ecological impact.

 

[domino]

snip good stuff

Is the predatory wasp you mentioned native to Europe?

 

[Plenty of honey]

Is the predatory wasp you mentioned native to Europe?

Yes i believe it is and does also predate a certain amount on the common hornet found in the UK and Europe i should really investigate this further as its rather interesting.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Before anyone starts setting traps in spring it might be prudent to wait to see if there are any confirmed sightings of nests, gynes or drones. A solitary worker may well be just that - a lone insect brought in on a vehicle. Premature use of traps in spring is likely to have a wider ecological impact.

I do agree Carol, its likely if you dont find a nest soon, then we will see it in the winter when the trees loose their leaves. As you know , by that time, the damage has been done and queens will have already dispersed to hibernate!! eek!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Before anyone starts setting traps in spring it might be prudent to wait to see if there are any confirmed sightings of nests, gynes or drones. A solitary worker may well be just that - a lone insect brought in on a vehicle. Premature use of traps in spring is likely to have a wider ecological impact.

No such luck.........They will be out in their hundreds in the Spring if the "panic" on FB is any guide

 

[mazzamazda]

yes, its the best and most effective way. This year I had a minimum of 3 bottle traps at every location i had hives. Overall we caught more queens very early on as soon as it started to warm up, but before the common hornet queens got really going, so for the first couple of weeks, all i trapped was lots of Asian queens.
Ive done a video on how to make the bottle traps, youve all probably seen it. It works well for me. Theres a lot out there who dont trap in fear of damaging the good work the common hornets do, which definitely agree with, but..... we have to control the overwintering queens that form new colonies in early spring.

My current problem with Asian hornets: i dont really haver one. At all my 8 apiaries i have Asian hornets, but theres only ever one or two in the apiary at one time. You can easily swat the workers as they grab bees, or stand on them, as they drop to the ground to decapitate a bee, before they fly off to their nest, which is very difficult to locate. (but you waste a lot of time, adding this to all the other time we waste in the apiary lol)

A few points to remember:
Asian hornets are slow to get going, they build a small nursery nest and move on after the queen has established enough workers to support her. its then they suddenly appear, then make a nest in a very difficult place to find.

Their relatively easy to trap in the spring. Make a minimum of 3 bottle traps per apiary. heres the link to a video i did. its a practical howe to make. easy to follow.

https://youtu.be/Yin1eGivY3A

By the time Asian Hornets become a problem we've done most of our bee work (well us here anyway) I imagine if your a heather honey specialist, then Asians Hornets may pose a problem but to be honest as long as you keep hives in groups of more then two, even a nest in fairly close proximity wont really be a problem if its a healthy hive.

Their still keeping bees in the Gironde area, the first place of infestation, over 10 years ago. Its a pain in the arse, but compared to Varroa regimes, its a walk in the park!! You will deal with it!!!

Good stuff!

In a typical Portuguese way the problem here has just been allowed to go wild. Last year, the local town hall employed two full time Asian hornet nest destroyers, their task to get rid of as many nests as possible, they had 500 reported nests in a 3km area to destroy, in the end they gave up, they couldnt even cover the reported nests, can you imagine how many were not reported. This year there are much less hornets, I still have 3-4 hovering per hive which makes my apiaries eerily quiet. I have put it down to the bad weather which makes me think the hornets wont be well suited to the UK winter. The problem for the UK is a large proportion of beekeepers with only one or two hives may suffer. When I see the protocol of the UK towards this problem it makes me wonder what I'm still doing here!

 

[Hivemaker.]

The problem for the UK is a large proportion of beekeepers with only one or two hives may suffer.

This could lead to a mass exodus of devoted two hive owners to places like Finland, where their bees won't be harassed by Asian Hornets.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This could lead to a mass exodus of devoted two hive owners to places like Finland, where their bees won't be harassed by Asian Hornets.

But the owners may be harassed by a far worse predator, as old as the hills!

 

[psafloyd]

Uh oh.....

Confirmed sighting, but DNA is being tested to confirm it is in fact an Asian hornet.

 

[psafloyd]

Bad news for all, and I don't think things are under control here.
Given where Tetbury is located, it seems pretty clear that although this is the site of the first positive I.D. it is very unlikely to be the only place to be colonised.
It seems pointless or at least very optimistic to set up a 3 mile zone other than a test exercise. It's a very small stable door....

Or something was imported here, possibly via Bristol docks, as happened in France.

 

[peteinwilts]

Bad news for all, and I don't think things are under control here.
Given where Tetbury is located, it seems pretty clear that although this is the site of the first positive I.D. it is very unlikely to be the only place to be colonised.
It seems pointless or at least very optimistic to set up a 3 mile zone other than a test exercise. It's a very small stable door....

The specifics say 'Tetbury area', but does not say where. My best bet would be Kemble airfield, where they deal with a fair amount of freight, so may have come straight in and found.

... would be good to know though.

 

[peteinwilts]

Confirmed sighting, but DNA is being tested to confirm it is in fact an Asian hornet.

'if' my understanding is correct, the AH has a number of gene pools and by reading its DNA, they can work out what part of the globe they came from... If it is a one off, they can then plug the gap and increase vigilance.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Good stuff!

In a typical Portuguese way the problem here has just been allowed to go wild. Last year, the local town hall employed two full time Asian hornet nest destroyers, their task to get rid of as many nests as possible, they had 500 reported nests in a 3km area to destroy, in the end they gave up, they couldnt even cover the reported nests, can you imagine how many were not reported. This year there are much less hornets, I still have 3-4 hovering per hive which makes my apiaries eerily quiet. I have put it down to the bad weather which makes me think the hornets wont be well suited to the UK winter. The problem for the UK is a large proportion of beekeepers with only one or two hives may suffer. When I see the protocol of the UK towards this problem it makes me wonder what I'm still doing here!

Although i havent experienced your climate, i would imagine the Asian hornet would really do well in Portugal. Hotter in general than in France! I am glad i am not trying to keep Bees in your area, sounds a nightmare!!
We actually have had a good year re numbers, although this is really our only third year with the little darlings, its the worse June in these three years, so I think that why they were slow to get going.
How much trapping to they do in the spring? sounds as thought the authorities might not have bothered??