Bee-devouring hornet will overrun UK in a generation
ASIAN hornets could colonise Britain within a generation and devastate the nation’s honeybees.
Hundreds of thousands of the aggressive insects are set to invade the UK within the next two decades, according to expert forecasts.
Government officials are already on high alert for the arrival of the Asian hornet, which preys on honeybees by waiting outside their hives.
It has caused devastation across France, where it arrived from Asia in a shipment of pottery in 2004, and spread to other countries such as Italy and Spain. Last year it took experts ten days to track the UK’s first Asian hornet nest, which was found 55ft up a tree close to Prince Charles’s Highgrove Estate.
The nest, and a single hornet found in North Somerset, were destroyed, but more are likely to follow, according to researchers at the universities of Warwick and Newcastle. Using data from the Andernos-les- Bains region in South-West France, they have mapped a similar potential invasion in the UK over 25 years.
Lead author Professor Matt Keeling said: ‘Our research shows the potential for this predator to successfully invade and colonise the UK, spreading rapidly from any new invasion site. Even if we have managed to successfully control this first invasion, the presence of a growing population of these hornets in Northern Europe makes future invasions inevitable.’
The Asian hornet, which is smaller than our native version, has spread across Europe at a rate of close to 60 miles a year.
A single colony can produce 6,000 insects in one season and the UK Government has urged beekeepers to lay their own traps made from plastic drinks bottles and garden wire.
The insect feeds by hovering outside hives waiting for returning honey bees, which they catch and feed to their larvae. It also preys on bumblebees and hoverflies.
Single hornets had been discovered previously in Jersey and Alderney last summer, and in a trap in North Somerset.
Co-author Dr Giles Budge, from Newcastle University, said: ‘Our work highlights the importance of early detection.
‘We need members of the public and beekeepers to familiarise themselves with this hornet, look out for signs of foraging hornets, particularly near honey bee colonies, and check the tallest trees for their large nests. Rapid reporting could make all the difference.’
Asian hornets pose no extra risk to human health, beyond the possibility of an allergic reaction to one of their stings. There is now an app for Britain’s 25,000 beekeepers to report sightings, with the south and south-east of England on the highest alert.
Those who find a suspect Asian hornet or nest should contact the Non Native Species Secretariat using the email address alertnonnative@ ceh. ac. uk, providing details including their name, the location of the hornet and an image if possible.