Hornets

Message from the Regional Bee Inspector for Wales

apiarymanager Bee Health, Foul Brood Diseases, Hornets, National Bee Unit, Nosema, PBKA, Pests, Stories of Interest, Swarms and Swarming, Varroa
Dear Beekeeper and association member,
We all know that this season has been a particularly busy one for swarms – it certainly has been in the area I live in south Wales and across the board from the reports I get.
Please can I ask those of you who are swarm collectors to make yourselves aware of the areas in the county and adjacent counties where you may be collecting swarms from where bee disease is present and to ensure that where you collect swarms in those areas they are hived solely onto new fresh foundation to reduce the risk of disease transmission through the storage of honey they bring with them, into drawn combs.
 If you are in a disease area and you put out ‘bait hives’ same thing again – please do not put out boxes with old combs or drawn combs in them as you are substantially increasing your risk of picking up foulbrood from incoming swarms.
Foundation should be used with some form of commercially available attractant and, if the bait hive is big enough the bees will occupy it, sometimes they will occupy a box with foundation without an attractant.
You can check the locations of outbreaks of foulbrood here which is freely available information on BeeBase :
 
Please remember when you view the above pages to look at both 2025 and previous years to see the area’s most at risk – the 2024 areas are just as important from a swarm point of view as 2025, we are early in the season and many of those areas identified in 2024 wont yet have received follow-up visits yet.
Where possible try to isolate incoming swarms you have hived in a separate isolation apiary and wait for two brood cycles, examining the brood closely and if you have any concerns please contact your local bee inspector who can be contacted by searching on your postcode on
your postcode on beebase: Contact Us » APHA – National Bee Unit – BeeBase if you are unsure as to what the National Bee Unit does this short film is quite useful from Beebase: About Us » APHA – National Bee Unit – BeeBase
Please try to log into your Beebase account and make sure that your apiary locations are up to date if they change – if they are up to date and we find any Statutory Notifiable Disease in your area you will be informed soonest. Having your email address on file means the notifications will come to you swiftly.
Bee Inspectors are all practicing – established Beekeepers and Beefarmers – we are here to help and there is no such thing as a daft question.
For those of you who are located within South Wales you may well have had a visit from me in the past and myself and the team of inspectors across Wales are currently booking up to see people in the radius surrounding where the latest outbreaks of European Foulbrood and American foulbrood has been discovered.
Our work is always done protecting the confidentiality of apiary site locations and beekeepers.
Many thanks again and happy beekeeping.
Kind regards.
Dan
Daniel Baxter
Regional Bee Inspector – Wales | Arolygydd Gwenyn Rhanbarthol – Cymru
National Bee Unit | Uned Gwenyn Cenedlaethol – Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) | Asiantaeth Iechyd Anifeiliaid a Phlanhigion
Mobile: 07771038646    Email: daniel.baxter@apha.gov.uk
National Bee Unit Website (BeeBase)/ Gwefan: www.nationalbeeunit.com
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Asian Hornet Update by Peter Kirkup, PBKA Asian Hornet Coordinator

apiarymanager Hornets, PBKA

I attended a very interesting presentation about the Asian Hornet problems in Jersey. There were many useful points learned from the talk. Here are the main points. The queens are just appearing now, they are hungry. They will be about until May. You might find a primary nest anywhere. It will be about the size of a tennis ball to the size of a melon, the entrance will be on the bottom. Later in the year the nests can be as much as a metre and are now secondary nests and can be in the floor in low bushes in the tops of trees in buildings etc.

You need to keep away from the nests, your bee suit WILL NOT be enough protection, the stings are much worse than wasps and bees. Take a photo, video, Google my maps tracking your route to the nest, what 3 words address.

If you think you have seen an Asian hornet, contact me, Peter Kirkup, Asian Hornet Coordinator on 07770 883720,  or the NBU Bee Inspectors, or the PBKA.

You don’t want to be putting traps out that kill as other pollinators perish and a dead Hornet cannot lead you to the nest. 1 dead Hornet is only 1 dead Hornet, the nest might contain 3000 insects.. Please look at photos and watch video of Asian and European hornets to become more accurate at identifying what you see. If it has a full yellow abdomen it is not the Asian Hornet this only has one yellow band near the end of its body. Public awareness seems to be the only way we can hope to maintain a level of control over the range of these apex predators, they eat almost everything and adapt very successfully to their environment.

A nest has been found in Scotland and The North of England, Ireland is under serious threat from hornets hitching a ride on the ferries from Northern France and Spain. The prevailing wind could easily assist the insects finding their way to Wales.

Please be careful gardening, in Jersey many of the Hornet attacks occurred from gardening activities.

Be safe, report it.

Asian Hornet Webinar this Wednesday at 7.30pm

apiarymanager Events, Hornets, PBKA, Pests, Stories of Interest, WBKA

Webinar On Wednesday

There’s still a little time left to register for our next webinar, this Wednesday night (5th March) on the subject of Yellow-legged (Asian) hornets.

Join us online from 7.30pm for an evening with John De Carteret, when he’ll give us an introduction to the Jersey Asian Hornet Group, and we’ll discover more about the work they have done, and are doing, to combat Yellow-legged (Asian) hornets in Jersey.

To book your free place please click here

To find out more about their work please visit

https://www.jbka.org.je/asian-hornets

Asian Hornet nest!

apiarymanager Education & Training, Hornets, National Bee Unit, Pests, Stories of Interest

Wow! Check out the news channels……an Asian Hornet’s nest has been discovered in Southampton, estimated to hold about 3000 insects! This is a worry, it demonstrates the Asian Hornet populations are spreading west. Please continue to be vigilant and report suspected sightings to me Peter Kirkup, Asian Hornet Co-ordinator; the PBKA’s Apiary Manager, Paul Eades, or the National Bee Unit.