A summary of activities to Middle October reveals:
- • 20 nests found in 15 locations and destroyed.
- • There has been considerably more investment from APHA in the YLH eradication programme so analysis is happening later than 2023.
- • 11 nests have already had DNA analysed and it is encouraging news that to date:
- • No queens show relatedness to 2023 nests ( ie all are new arrivals not UK grown population)
- • 3 recent nests (Great Maxfield in East Sussex, Shirley in Southampton and Dymchurch in Kent) had developed sufficiently to produce drones. These will likely be the focus of spring Queen monitoring activity.
- • 3 of the 11 nests analysed to date show an entirely triploid colony, meaning the queen mated with 1 drone only, who was diploid himself. This reinforces the view of a weak population.
There’s more information at: www.NBU beekeeping-news/asian-hornet-2024-rolling-update/
Beekeepers Urged To Support AH Watch APP
One key statistic from Nigel Semmence’s Honey Show update was that the Asian Hornet Watch app had received 28,000 reports of Hornets or nests, it is concerning that only 50 of these proved to be Yellow legged hornets or their nests. That is less than 0.18% accuracy and is using up a lot of national resources. So much so that reports not including a photograph are not being triaged or reviewed.
“Whilst it isn’t sexy or brave to be encouraging the public to learn about YLAH in comparison to hunting hornets on a track and trace mission, it is a critical part of the defence of our county that we can all take part in,” says Helen Worwood, Surrey County AHAT Co-ordinator.
“I urge you to download the Asian Hornet watch app yourself, and encourage friends, family and honey customers to do the same. Talk to your divisional YLAH co-ordinator about keeping a few YLAH “credit” cards in your wallet or purse so that you can hand them out and improve the accuracy of reporting possible sightings throughout Surrey.”
Monitoring
During October we also secured 20 “Nestsweeper” monitoring stations which were distributed to divisions. We have used them with varying degrees of success and fed back to the manufacturer our thoughts about how easy they were to use. They remain with divisions and can be used by any verifier needing to investigate a potential sighting.
Developing our network
In his lecture about BDI at the National Honey Show Martin Smith spoke about Surrey’s use of the eR2 membership system to develop our network of Monitors and Verifiers. It had been noted that Surrey as a “medium risk” county had been using the system well. As a result it is likely that other associations will be encouraged to adopt eR2 based monitoring in Spring 2025.
“We still have many squares to ‘colour in’ on the map so please chat with your local team and join the team. ,” says Helen Worwood. “We continue to see the benefits of ‘together everyone achieves more’ approach and are increasingly admired for this way of working.”
Significant Find In Southampton
One of the biggest YLAH nests to be discovered this year has been destroyed. Following the capture and verification of a Yellow legged Asian Hornet worker in the Maybush area of Southampton on Thursday, 19th September there was an extensive search for its nest.
As is often the way, the hornet nest was located in the most awkward of positions. It was high up in a tree was in the old cemetery of Southampton Common. The large many branched tree was covered in ivy and surrounded by dense undergrowth littered with ancient graves.
It took National Bee Unit Inspector, Dan Etheridge, and tree climbers several hours to cut an access route to the nest. After the nest was sufficiently exposed, the team employed the latest long lance to inject double dose of insecticide into its depths After an hour’s break, it was safe for the tree climbers to cut out the nest and lower it to the ground.
The 75cm-wide (2ft 4in) nest – which could hold some 3,000 hornets – was declared one of the most significant finds so far this year. Alan Baxter, Hampshire BBKA’s AHAT Coordinator, who was present at the nest’s destruction, said the NBU, pest controllers and tree climbers did a fantastic job. Dan Etheridge said: “It was good to have the Asian Hornet Coordinator involved, and we hope that AHATs will continue to be a part of future operations.” You can listen to BBC Radio Solent’s interview with Alan Baxter here: YLH Nest in Southampton.
