Asian Hornets

[rolande]

AH happily predates wasps as well as bees.

Clearly not making much of a dent in his local population if wasps are responsible for finishing off fourteen colonies

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

He appears to be having a lot of difficulty with wasps

but he still blames hornets......................

 

[JamezF]

As per my previous post, I've been thinking that the reason there appear to be clusters of nests around ports is because the queens are being transported here in freight. Whilst I was taking out the recycling just now it struck me that there are some obvious flaws in such a simple assumption. For example, why are there no reported clusters around, say, Felixstowe and Harwich? In the main (I know there have been reports around Hull) it seems to be south coast ports that are affected. There's an obvious conclusion to jump to in the proximity with France, but whilst that might explain Dover and Folkstone, Plymouth is a much longer hop. Perhaps that in turn might be explained by traffic levels: if there's a queen on, say, one ship in every thousand, you'd be more likely to find them where there are a hundred ships arriving every day than where there are ten. Still doesn't explain Felixstowe and Harwich though. Do they tend not to handle as much traffic to Europe, perhaps? Or handle different traffic? I know Felixstowe is claimed to be the UK's largest container port. Does Dover handle more vehicular freight?

James

 

[hemo]

but he still blames hornets......................

An easy target to blame without needing further explanation.
Maybe he has never had major wasp issues before and is laying the blame at an easier news target simply to be in the news.
I think you have hit the nail on the head before JBM with the idea that there is a beek out there wanting there few minutes of fame by saying I was the first.

The suggestion of high % of decimated hives suggests the battle is lost and the V.v have got a strong foot hold in his area without anyone knowing, when in fact the cause may be something far simpler with high wasp numbers rather then hornet.

 

[hemo]

I wonder if CBPV has been ruled out at all ?
One assumes a bee inspector has looked at all the concerned colonies.

 

[rolande]

As per my previous post, I've been thinking that the reason there appear to be clusters of nests around ports is because the queens are being transported here in freight. Whilst I was taking out the recycling just now it struck me that there are some obvious flaws in such a simple assumption. For example, why are there no reported clusters around, say, Felixstowe and Harwich? In the main (I know there have been reports around Hull) it seems to be south coast ports that are affected. There's an obvious conclusion to jump to in the proximity with France, but whilst that might explain Dover and Folkstone, Plymouth is a much longer hop. Perhaps that in turn might be explained by traffic levels: if there's a queen on, say, one ship in every thousand, you'd be more likely to find them where there are a hundred ships arriving every day than where there are ten. Still doesn't explain Felixstowe and Harwich though. Do they tend not to handle as much traffic to Europe, perhaps? Or handle different traffic? I know Felixstowe is claimed to be the UK's largest container port. Does Dover handle more vehicular freight?

James

I don't know about the other ports but I wouldn't be surprised to find that the Portland hornets had got here via a weekend yacht trip to the channel Islands.

 

[JamezF]

Maybe he has never had major wasp issues before

I believe this is quite possible. I have the impression that he has only been keeping bees for a few years and thought I've seen no evidence of it myself I know back in the Spring this was forecast to be likely to be a strong year for wasps. I think it's also his first year with hives in their current location, so he may have inadvertently moved into an area where there is a significantly higher density of wasp colonies.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

why are there no reported clusters around, say, Felixstowe and Harwich?

on the whole, different type of traffic

There's an obvious conclusion to jump to in the proximity with France, but whilst that might explain Dover and Folkstone, Plymouth is a much longer hop

but Plymouth has regular ferry traffic with Spain and France - St Malo being only a stone's throw from Velutina territory, in fact if you follow Gruff Rees he actually filmed AH snacking on prawns in the fish market at Dinard - just across the river from St Malo when he visited Richar4d Noel last week.

I know Felixstowe is claimed to be the UK's largest container port. Does Dover handle more vehicular freight?

yes - Dover is just a ferry port now.

Going back a few years - if you recall the first AH nest discovered in the UK was in Gloucestershire - there was an ICD (inland freight clearance depot) just down the road.

 

[hemo]

With V.v in the news it is easier to add 1+1 to get 2 then to think of other possible targets.
Most here know how common wasp species can decimate a colony in no time esp if said colony is weakend. Even my strong looking CBPV colony could have been at the mercy of wasps if they were about in strong numbers.
I have been fortunate and only have had one bad year for wasps at my village out apiary and that was in 2021.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

One assumes a bee inspector has looked at all the concerned colonies.

if they had, one would assume that it would have been plastered all over the media that they had found an AH breeding hotspot

 

[rolande]

It would now be interesting to know why the remaining three colonies in the folkeston apiary haven't been wiped out...

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The discovery of nests seems to have significantly increased in pace over the last couple of weeks from looking at the NBU rolling updates. Still mostly in coastal locations and clustered around ports, by the looks of it, but there are a few that are more inland. Those appear to be clustered around roads such as the M2 and M25. Perhaps it should be expected that nests may be found in proximity to the major traffic routes if the queens are being brought over in freight?

James

I wonder what influence inland ports for import of timber (among other cargos) has on the overall situation? I'm 10 miles from Howdendyke which is one of the so-called riverside timber ports.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Talking to Jeremy Vine (not a fan so don’t shoot me but a friend messaged me to say he was doing a piece so I thought I’d listen) Simon said the hornets reduced the bees in such numbers the wasps moved in unchallenged and when the colony was wiped out Velutina moved in to take all the larvae.
I still can’t understand why there is this single reported incident of carnage and no other.

 

[rolande]

Talking to Jeremy Vine (not a fan so don’t shoot me but a friend messaged me to say he was doing a piece so I thought I’d listen) Simon said the hornets reduced the bees in such numbers the wasps moved in unchallenged and when the colony was wiped out Velutina moved in to take all the larvae.
I still can’t understand why there is this single reported incident of carnage

I have no problem listening to anyone if it might help in the future!! In this case I was struck by the explanation being totally different to anything I'd visualised as likely.

I'd still love to get a better understanding of what's been going on over there especially as to why the remaining three colonies have avoided the same fate as the others.

 

[Ian123]

Simon said the hornets reduced the bees in such numbers the wasps moved in unchallenged and when the colony was wiped out Velutina moved in to take all the larvae.

Id suspect it was the other way aroundand there’s simply been no basic prevention of wasps or hornets. Even if we assume that there is a foot hold of hornets in this area. I’d suggest they simply can’t be in numbers similar to Jersey or mainland Europe!

 

[JamezF]

Talking to Jeremy Vine (not a fan so don’t shoot me but a friend messaged me to say he was doing a piece so I thought I’d listen) Simon said the hornets reduced the bees in such numbers the wasps moved in unchallenged and when the colony was wiped out Velutina moved in to take all the larvae.

Why would the hornets not also have taken the wasps, I wonder?

James

 

[The Poot]

Returning honeybee foragers are, apparently, their favourite food.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Returning foragers are slow so easier prey. I read today that honey bees account for only a small proportion of a hornet’s diet
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00379271.2020.1867005?journalCode=tase20

 

[JamezF]

Returning foragers are slow so easier prey.

Which reminded me of this text from the AHAT website:

"Asian hornets can fly at approximately 3 metres per second. In comparison, the normal top speed of a honey bee would be about 21-28 km per hour when flying to a food source and about 17 km per hour when returning lladen down with nectar and pollen."

I don't know why they've mixed up the units, but 17km/h works out as about 4.75m/s, or over half as fast again as AH, which makes me wonder what point they're trying to make.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I don't know why they've mixed up the units, but 17km/h works out as about 4.75m/s, or over half as fast again as AH, which makes me wonder what point they're trying to make.

or what planet most of them live on?