Indeed.
This is why we need to work with and support the BBKAs efforts in this area. They ran an Asian Hornet week, a couple of weeks ago which encouraged everyone to increase awareness and put out monitoring stations. The BBKA website has some great resources available to all. Letter templates for local groups such as allotment groups and parish councils, letters to MPs etc and identification posters.
They have organised the Andrew Durham webinars, and created a tool to coordinate and record monitoring.
These things have resulted in incursions being reported and actions being taken.
What associations and branches must do is to get organised so that all BKs are aware of these resources, and motivate all BKs to participate. If we, as guardians of a sentinel species, can create a level of awareness so that AHs are reported early by everyone, I think we do stand a chance of holding it at bay until we have developed sophisticated protocols for any incursions.
We have learnt lessons from what has happened in France and I think so far we have been lucky and have had the time to correct the approach as we have gone along.
This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and it may be that in the very long term destruction of AH may be passed over to the UKs pest control community. In the meantime I would ask everyone to get on board with the BBKA on this.
I believe next monitoring event will be in the late spring, and it would be amazing to have every BK and nature watcher in the country to take some time out during that week to specifically look for AH and increase awarenss around the country.
Oh and perhaps we should all adopt the name Yellow Legged Hornet instead of AH to help with its identification by the general public
