The 27 September report from the National Bee Unit shows that so far this year there have been 55 credible sightings of Asian hornets in Britain and 19 primary and secondary nests have been located and eliminated. Apart from two single hornets found inside buildings in March, almost all of the other sightings and nests have been in Kent and Sussex. The most recent sighting has been of a single hornet in a cemetery garden in Upper Shirley, Southampton, Hants – (and incidentally in Ambridge!)
In Surrey we have been holding back in using our supply of attractant bait until there is an indication that Asian hornet is in our area. Those of you who have some attractant left from last year can set up wick traps or open tray lures. A more general distribution of bait and the Bonne Maman jar traps will be organised if the need arises.
Everyone should be on the lookout for Asian hornets. Likely places to see them are around beehives and other places where there are aggregations of insects that they can prey on. These include wasp nests, fallen ripe fruit and any plants in flower that are attracting pollinating insects. At this time of year, ivy flowers are a good place to look for Asian Hornets.
Andrew Halstead
| National News |
AH Week Boosts Public Awareness
BBKA Outreach officer, Kirsteen Thorne, is sending a big thank you to everyone who helped to raise awareness during Asian Hornet Week (Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th September).
By sharing ideas, resources, social media posts, or contributing towards the media coverage – teams around the country generated a great deal of national publicity and discussion about the dangers of the insect invader.
One such collaborative effort involved teams from across Kent, Jersey, the NBU and central BBKA who contributed to a detailed feature “The Killer Hornets” which was broadcast locally by BBC South East on 6th September and then made available to audiences across the country via the BBC iPlayer. You can listen to the feature by visiting the BBC iPlayer and searching the-killer-hornets.
| There were also interviews on ITV Meridian, BBC 5 Live breakfast and BBC Surrey (which included our very own Helen Worwood whose moment of fame starts 1:40 minutes into the following link). Apart from broadcast media, a large number of organisations, councils and online news sites and specialist media shared BBKA press releases and AH spotting sheet on their digital channels, and BBKA social media communications during the week were further picked up on and shared on a number of other external stakeholder platforms. Rise In YLH Sightings Unfortunately, there has been an increase in Yellow Legged Hornet sightings across the southeast, most recently a confirmed sighting in Southampton. A total of 18 nests have been found and destroyed this year. The NBU Bee Inspectors have observed that the hornets are now feeding on fruit/fallen fruit and flowering ivy so an alert will be published on BeeBase asking beekeepers to lookout for insects feeding on this type of forage. As ever, there’s more up-to-date information on the National Bee Unit’s Rolling Update. The ID sheet that was designed for AH Week has now been amended for general use. It is attached to the email update, along with a couple of variations that may be useful when asking people to identify a suspected AH sighting. Please feel free to use it as you wish. Positive Feedback and Local Shows Beekeepers from Surrey Divisions continue to attend a number of local and county shows and promote awareness of the Yellow Legged Hornet. Our thanks to volunteers from across the whole of SBKA who give up spare time (is there such a thing for beekeepers?) to attend these events. We always get great feedback from the public who increasingly value our input on everything from what to plant in the garden to support bees, to how to download the YLAH watch app, to why local honey tastes so much better than the stuff from the supermarket. Appeal for Shows Committee volunteers If you’ve enjoyed taking part in your local county shows and would be keen to engage with the public on a wider scale, the BBKA Shows Committee team are seeking more volunteers to help share the BBKA story and promote the importance and understanding of beekeeping to a wider audience. The BBKA attend some of the biggest events around the country and the role can be incredibly fulfilling and fun, offering access to some brilliant shows – if you’re interested in finding out more, why not drop Kirsteen Thorne a line. New YLH Co-ordinators There have been some personnel changes in Surrey’s YLH Co-ordinator team. Helen Worwood has welcomed new members Alex Haswell at Croydon and Nick Fry at Epsom. Thanking outgoing team members Anna Slade, John Futcher and Jonathan Brookhouse, she said: “Your support getting us to the place where we are is much admired by our neighbouring counties, and we are really beginning to see the benefits of this “together everyone achieves more” approach.” Surreys AHAT Co-ordinators are shown in the table below. To contact one of them, click |