Hornets

Asian Hornet – the story so far! Webinar on Sep 10, 2020 at 7:30 PM

apiarymanager Hornets

Register now!

During what has been designated Asian Hornet week, WBKA are pleased to bring you this presentation by Frank Gellatly. Frank will be well known to many of you as the Wales Regional Bee Inspector. He has considerable front line experience in the battle against the Asian Hornet which, since its arrival in the UK, has caused much concern. It is vitally important that we all remain alert to help in the fight against this threat to our bees. Frank’s presentation will cover Asian Hornet identification, the Asian Hornet in France, incursions into England, the response including track and trace, the Jersey experience, and the future, including AH teams in Wales.

Registration for this webinar is open to all beekeepers and, as usual, we will begin with a short, general Q&A session. Send your advance questions by email to l&d@wbka.com

We are interested to know how widely our webinars are viewed and so would appreciate you answering a couple of questions when registering for the event.

Links to recordings of our previous webinars can be found on the Welsh Beekeepers’ Association website www.wbka.com.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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Asian Hornet update

apiarymanager Hornets

One of our bee inspectors advises that she has spent the best part of September in England chasing Asian hornets and the monitoring going on by the public has been variable. The only chance of preventing them from becoming a huge problem is to stop them early.
This is a link to the NBU Asian hornet trap
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadNews.cfm%3Fid%3D122&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiB6r7BxNrdAhUGRBoKHfLMDwMQFjAAegQIBRAC&usg=AOvVaw3OJJgtczld3fdegpUk6fy6
Note that Asian hornets are apparently quite hard to ID when they’ve been in a trap for a while, so people need to have a good look.
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm%3Fid%3D1111&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjfwNSnx9rdAhWozoUKHRryAW0QFjABegQIChAC&usg=AOvVaw24hja23fncO753eEKcMrEO
The most Asian Hornets have been seen on ivy and other forage, picking off flys and other insects (as this is easier than hawking in front of a hive) so if everyone could spend half an hour every so often watching some forage there’s a chance of spotting them if they’re here.
If anyone does spot something suspect then THEY NEED TO TAKE A PHOTO OR CATCH ONE AND PUT IT IN ALCOHOL OR THE FREEZER. The bee unit and non-native species have had over 4000 reports of Asian hornets that are actually something else (one was a cockroach!) people can also download the Asian hornet app, which has ID info and you can report sightings.

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Another Asian Hornet sighting!

apiarymanager Hornets, PBKA

There has been a confirmed finding of an Asian Hornet north of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. As with the first sighting, work to find, destroy and remove any nests is already underway.

Husbandry Advice:

It is very important that beekeepers remain vigilant and monitor their apiaries and surrounding forage for any Asian hornet activity. At this time of the year, Asian hornets can be seen foraging on the ivy for nectar and preying on other foraging insects for protein.

Traps should also be hung out and closely monitored. When using bait, please refrain from using light beer or lager mixed with sugar as this does not work. In France a Dark beer, mixed with 25ml of strawberry syrup and 25ml of orange liqueur has proven to work well.

Additionally, a protein bait of mashed fish e.g. prawns or trout, diluted to 25% has also proven effective. Anyone wishing to make their own traps may find the following factsheet useful: How to make a homemade Asian hornet monitoring trap. 

Further guidance on identifying the Asian hornet can be found on the Asian hornet pages of Beebase where you will find a very useful Asian hornet ID sheet and Asian hornet poster. All of this information can be found on the Asian hornet page of BeeBase: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageId=208

Asian Hornet update from National Bee Unit!

apiarymanager Hornets, PBKA

Following the finding of Asian hornets in Gloucestershire last week we have received a large number of suspect Asian hornet reports from members of the public and beekeepers which we are following up. Bee inspectors have now visited over 100 sites. Asian hornets have been seen at just six locations within 500 meters of the original site.

Efforts to track down the nest and destroy it are ongoing. There have been no other substantiated reports of hornets anywhere else in the UK so please be patient while we continue our field work and be assured that when appropriate, national alerts will be sent out via our email alert system. In the meantime, our news feed on BeeBase will be used to keep everyone updated.

Please also see the updated ID sheet to help you Identify Vespa velutina in your apiaries: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageId=208. At this time of the year, the best bait to use in traps is fish bait diluted to 25%

Please continue to monitor your own apiaries using hornet traps and encourage those whom you know are not registered on our database to sign up.