Latest from Defra on YLH

[North End Bees]

God help the wood wasps!

That was my first thought too

 

[bpmurray]

I think you'll find that Vespa Orientalis is already in Europe

Oh yes, it is. I was in Zakynthos a few weeks ago and was surprised at the number - they were everywhere.

 

[North End Bees]

I'm a bit disappointed that our national association don't appear to have spent a few quid having thousands of these posters printed and sent them out with the usual monthly comic for every member to find somewhere to site at least one and perhaps request a few more for the cost of postage - particularly in the areas that are most at risk. Not everyone has a colour printer. but printing in quantity is relatively cheap in large quantities and there should be posters everywhere. I'll be having word with our AH Coordinator next time I see him.

Have a word with your AH coordinator and ask him why he's not ordered a bulk load for your association to hand out.
They've been free to order for the past several years.
Our BKA gets enough to give one to every member every year, not just the double sided colour prints but also some laminated versions.

 

[polomadh]

I'm a bit disappointed that our national association don't appear to have spent a few quid having thousands of these posters printed and sent them out with the usual monthly comic for every member to find somewhere to site at least one and perhaps request a few more for the cost of postage - particularly in the areas that are most at risk. Not everyone has a colour printer. but printing in quantity is relatively cheap in large quantities and there should be posters everywhere. I'll be having word with our AH Coordinator next time I see him.

Well I thought they had printed up 2,000 AH posters for each association and were handing them out at the Spring Convention to the coordinators, so perhaps your coordinator has distributed them

 

[pargyle]

Well I thought they had printed up 2,000 AH posters for each association and were handing them out at the Spring Convention to the coordinators, so perhaps your coordinator has distributed them

I've not been made aware by my associaton that posters are available - we had a lengthy talk on the AH at one of the association meetings - led by our AH coordinator - distribution of posters was never mentioned. So, if the BBKA have done it - the distribution in our association has been done, it's been dome by the chosen few. I'll be asking questions when we start our winter meetings ...

 

[North End Bees]

I've not been made aware by my associaton that posters are available - we had a lengthy talk on the AH at one of the association meetings - led by our AH coordinator - distribution of posters was never mentioned. So, if the BBKA have done it - the distribution in our association has been done, it's been dome by the chosen few. I'll be asking questions when we start our winter meetings ...

BBKA send out info on Hornet resources very regularly. It goes out automatically to AH coordinators via eR2.
Either your coordinator isn't reading the emails or just isn't acting on them?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Either your coordinator isn't reading the emails or just isn't acting on them?

maybe he's just uncoordinated?

 

[polomadh]

If your association AH lead isn’t being proactive then perhaps you should step up. A few took the role on, not expecting to actually have to do anything…..

 

[Murox]

I think the Scottish BA has gone over to calling it the YLH. I’m sure I read that in one of their emails.

Yes, they just emailed everyone recently and followed it up in the magazine.

 

[Penninetrader]

 

[Penninetrader]

Trust those pragmatic Jocks to just "get on with it"

 

[Moobee]

Down here in the front line I think a lot of work has been done educating those people that are likely to come into contact with the AH .. posters with a clear picture of what it looks like have been put up in places like allotments and public notice boards in places that attract nature lovers. Our local community hall has a poster up and they have lots of groups of people that meet there. I did an event at our local model farm in the summer and I was astounded at the number of people (and children) who enquired about the AH so, I think, in some areas the message is getting through.

But, as beekeepers, we have a collective responsibility to let the public know .. if you have access to a colour printer then a poster is available here:

https://www.nonnativespecies.org/assets/Alert_poster_Vespa_velutina_A4-1.pdf

I'm a bit disappointed that our national association don't appear to have spent a few quid having thousands of these posters printed and sent them out with the usual monthly comic for every member to find somewhere to site at least one and perhaps request a few more for the cost of postage - particularly in the areas that are most at risk. Not everyone has a colour printer. but printing in quantity is relatively cheap in large quantities and there should be posters everywhere. I'll be having word with our AH Coordinator next time I see him.

I agree. Our BKA has been working hard on education - in schools, at country & village fairs - handing out information, posters in prominent places, AH stickers in cars and vans and frequent posts on social media. Public awareness I would say is pretty good - I get asked about Asian Hornets frequently when people know I am a beekeeper. I’m on our AH team and we meet regularly and try to disseminate as much information as possible to our members and the public.
I’m pretty sure you can get the posters & car stickers from the BBKA - we handed out loads at our meetings for people to distribute.

 

[madasafish]

I have ten or so AH posters to give out at winter talks I do . All from BKA.

 

[Karol]

I think the Scottish BA has gone over to calling it the YLH. I’m sure I read that in one of their emails.

There's a reason AH is called nigrithorax. Black thorax hornet is a much better differentiator IMHO as it excludes more collateral species. Yellow sock black thorax hornet would be too much of a mouth full I guess.

 

[fian]

If the vespula germanica is called "Yellowjacket", the VV could well receive the adjective "Blackorangejacket Hornet"

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I never thought I'd read such vile racist language (with a touch of xenophobia thrown in) on this forum to be honest

 

[Erichalfbee]

I never thought I'd read such vile racist language (with a touch of xenophobia thrown in) on this forum to be honest

I must admit I was shocked too
It’s been removed

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yellow sock black thorax hornet would be too much of a mouth full I guess.

Common knowledge of Latin lacking too

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

There's a reason AH is called nigrithorax. Black thorax hornet is a much better differentiator IMHO as it excludes more collateral species.

I like the idea of tying the popular name to the Latin name, certainly in this case. It is maybe not be as difficult to change names for groups or categories as we might imagine. It happens all the time but probably needs a body with a strong desire to get the new name accepted.

 

[rolande]

I'm still struggling to see why there's a need to change the common name. Unless of course it can be shown that many Asian hornets have escaped capture because their name isn't descriptive enough. Yellow legged/socked are both in common usage and will continue to be so even if one is prioritised as 'official'.