Asian hornet sighting in Surrey?

[user 3509]

Has anyone heard any rumours about a confirmed Asian hornet sighting in Surrey? Had an email from local AHAT team who said the sighting had been confirmed but not announced yet? If that is the case why all the secrecy?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

heard nothing from my sources - probably just dad's army wetting their knix and finding an excuse to mobilise their butterfly net squads after one of the great unwashed sighted a giant horsefly.

 

[user 3509]

heard nothing from my sources - probably just dad's army wetting their knix and finding an excuse to mobilise their butterfly net squads after one of the great unwashed sighted a giant horsefly.

I love it!

 

[Ian123]

“Great unwashed”. Did not think we let them into Surrey, any ideas on area

 

[Erichalfbee]

Talking of hornets anybody who is on Facebook and might be interested Jersey Beekeepers have a fab video of their latest nest hunt. Up in a cherry picker and cut the nest down into a black bin, taken away for examination. Hornets attacking everything.

 

[Erichalfbee]

https://www.facebook.com/john.decarteret/videos/10215244409916623/

 

[Dadnlad]

Those suits look the business, but somewhat OTT for beekeeping

Good luck to those lads, I get the feeling they're up against it over there

 

[ShinySideUp]

They have high-tech suits, a cherry-picker...and a hand-saw? I really think they could have made it a little easier on themselves with a small chainsaw.

However, best of luck to them, it's not a job I would like to have to do.

Makes you think about the inevitable arrival of AH's in the UK.

 

[user 3509]

“Great unwashed”. Did not think we let them into Surrey, any ideas on area

No, the email just said that a sighting had been confirmed in Surrey but the public had not been informed about it. I am afraid when I hear about the AHAT groups I always think of Dad's Army and Corporal Jones running around saying "don't panic Mr.Mainwaring". I shall probably be ostracized by the other associations in Devon for saying this!

 

[charlievictorbravo]

https://www.facebook.com/john.decarteret/videos/10215244409916623/

There are some critical comments on that video. Specifically, people were asking why they did it during the day and why they did not inject it with insecticide before removing it from the tree in a dustbin, which seems to be the procedure in France.

I've seen a French video of insecticide being injected into a AH nest 10 metres in the air by a team standing on the ground using a telescopic pole. Once the top of the pole was inside the nest, the insecticide was pumped into the nest from the ground level using what looked like a garden pressure sprayer and it appeared to be very effective and much less expensive that a cherry picker/crane combination.

There's this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrjrqKdNwuI or this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4wx2ri5M8 and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EshageoH-s but I cannot find the vid that shows the whole process. Anybody who has the time and inclination can search Youtube for "nid de frelons asiatique" - there are literally hundreds of videos of the destruction of AH nests in France, some of them a little unsafe, some a lot unsafe!

CVB

 

[victor meldrew]

They have high-tech suits, a cherry-picker...and a hand-saw? I really think they could have made it a little easier on themselves with a small chainsaw.

However, best of luck to them, it's not a job I would like to have to do.

Makes you think about the inevitable arrival of AH's in the UK.

Loppers would have been quicker , easier , less vibration !
Good job however !


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Millet]

Loppers would have been quicker , easier , less vibration !
Good job however !


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

100% Agree..

 

[justsmith]

there are literally hundreds of videos of the destruction of AH nests in France, some of them a little unsafe, some a lot unsafe!

CVB

does this count as unsafe? https://youtu.be/WWM__QNgc4g?t=1m2s (it's hornets not wasps like the video tag)


How does germany/italy deal with AH and do they control them any better than france?

 

[Erichalfbee]

There are some critical comments on that video. Specifically, people were asking why they did it during the day and why they did not inject it with insecticide before removing it from the tree in a dustbin, which seems to be the procedure in France.

I've seen a French video of insecticide being injected into a AH nest 10 metres in the air by a team standing on the ground using a telescopic pole. Once the top of the pole was inside the nest, the insecticide was pumped into the nest from the ground level using what looked like a garden pressure sprayer and it appeared to be very effective and much less expensive that a cherry picker/crane combination.

There's this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrjrqKdNwuI or this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4wx2ri5M8 and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EshageoH-s but I cannot find the vid that shows the whole process. Anybody who has the time and inclination can search Youtube for "nid de frelons asiatique" - there are literally hundreds of videos of the destruction of AH nests in France, some of them a little unsafe, some a lot unsafe!

CVB

Perhaps they are still at the gung ho, six shooters strapped at the hips stage and it’s still an adventure. No disrespect intended

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Here's the one I was looking for - there some H & S issues but the basic method is less expensive than what's happening in Jersey. The only specialist kit is the telescopic pole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlEctITs73w

CVB

 

[DanBee]

The only specialist kit is the telescopic pole.

Looks like it might be a waterfed window cleaning pole, something like this.

Funnily enough I was recently looking for window cleaning poles to give the solar panels a good scrub. Seems there are cheap ones where the water just runs up inside the poles (so they weigh a ton in use, but telescope away neatly) or the more expensive ones with the external plastic hose, which is lighter (small bore hose, less weight of water) but more of a fiddle to store as the plastic hose has to be coiled up.

Clearly you could disconnect the brush and instead attach some sort of lance with the pipe feeding into it.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Looks like it might be a waterfed window cleaning pole, something like this.

Funnily enough I was recently looking for window cleaning poles to give the solar panels a good scrub. Seems there are cheap ones where the water just runs up inside the poles (so they weigh a ton in use, but telescope away neatly) or the more expensive ones with the external plastic hose, which is lighter (small bore hose, less weight of water) but more of a fiddle to store as the plastic hose has to be coiled up.

Clearly you could disconnect the brush and instead attach some sort of lance with the pipe feeding into it.

That's exactly the sort of thing he was using. For just over £180 I see you can buy a set of telescopic poles that goes to 27' 6". Standing on the back of a pickup truck would get you over 30" - 10 metres. It's a pity Jean-Michel did not give some details of the kit and insecticide he was using on the nest in the video.

CVB

 

[Ian123]

https://www.spcb.co.uk/spray-extension
cheap as chips

 

[Karol]

Here's the one I was looking for - there some H & S issues but the basic method is less expensive than what's happening in Jersey. The only specialist kit is the telescopic pole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlEctITs73w

CVB

Completely unnecessary. If Mazzamazda's method is followed then VV nests never get that big and far far less pesticide is used. If you watch the clip carefully you'll see that the hornets fly off to die so you get circa 5000 pesticide laced hornets dropping randomly all over the place. Nice little environmental bomb going off!

 

[charlievictorbravo]

https://www.spcb.co.uk/spray-extension
cheap as chips

Doesn't say what it's made of - possibly some form of fibreglass whereas the more expensive one is aluminium. You pays your money, etc.

CVB