The current official reports of Asian Hornet sightings are disturbing
22/08/2023
So far in 2023 there have been 24 Asian hornet nests found in 22 locations.
London
The NBU responded to a credible sighting of Asian hornet in Thamesmead on the 20th of August. A nest was located yesterday. It will be destroyed and removed later in the week.
Kent
Over the weekend the NBU located a nest in Dover, a nest in Rochester, a nest in St Margaret’s Bay and a further nest in Maidstone.
Active operations have also been initiated at a third location in Maidstone.
This number, in my opinion, is too many to be from individually introduced queens from Europe.
It implies to me that an undetected nest(s) in Kent last year successfully released queens.
The gentleman in Somerset may have been given an unofficial update. I am not sure whether it was wise to publish it. It should not cause panic but encourage us to come up with a plan ’B’. If what he says is true Plan ’A’ has failed.
If one or two nests in Kent remain unlocated and successfully release queens a 50 mile radius from Maidstone would extend west to Basingstoke, include all of Greater London, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and parts of Bucks and Oxon.
My initial thoughts on Plan ‘B’ are as follows.
The NBU supply all beekeepers with free Spring monitoring traps.
Karol and his colleagues develop a ‘Custard’ that can be applied to AH that are caught and then released to poison nests.
The law is changed, to allow release, following a concerted lobby campaign by local BKAs, the BBKA, The WBKA, the Bee Farmers Association and other interested parties.
Good, sensible reporting is most important
A widespread, catch, poison and release program is instigated. NBU to provide specialist traps, training and equipment for this.
This morning, my daily update from Bee Culture contained this report on VV from the USA
. The first United States sighting of this hornet occurred last week in Savannah, Georgia, after a backyard beekeeper spotted two of them.
