The Asian Hornet is here in Dorset - in Christchurch.
This time we are not talking of a single Asian Hornet hiding in a cauliflower.
Several Asian Hornets have been seen and a positive identification has been made that it is an Asian Hornet.
The local Asian Hornet coordinators have all been notified and are on standby to provide any assistance that may be required.
However your help is needed now more than ever:
- If you have a trap make certain it is baited.
- If you don't have a trap you can make one
- Check your trap daily.
- If you find an Asian Hornet in the trap let the NBU or the Asian Hornet Coordinators know as soon as possible. Do not wait till you have caught several.
- Make certain the trap is registered on Bee-base as that provides a lot of help to the NBU team.
- Check your hives for "hawking" by the Asian Hornet. Our bees are the not the only source of food for the Asian Hornet but they do provide regular food and rich pickings from a single source.
- The food of choice seems to be ivy as it has nectar and regular insect visitors so that is the one to watch.
- Watch the web sites and keep in touch with developments.
- If you are not registered on Beebase, do so.
If you are not certain what to look for then remember:
- have a dark brown or black velvety body
- have a yellow or orange band on fourth segment of abdomen
- have yellow tipped legs
- are smaller than the native European hornet
- are not active at night
More information is available here.
We are hoping that this is an isolated incident but we must be prepared for something worse.
