Asian hornets pose a growing threat to Britain’s pollinators and to agriculture – experts call for public help to stop their rapid spread
by Andrew Livingston
The UK ecosystem is under attack by invaders.
It’s not a new story … grey squirrels have almost wiped out the native reds … signal crayfish threaten the existence of our native white-clawed crayfish …
It seems wherever man is in the world, we manage to wreck the biodiversity by meddling in what should be left alone.
‘All Asian hornets in Europe have descended from a single queen,’ says Somerset Beekeepers Association president Anne Ashford. She told the BV: ‘It’s thought she arrived in France in 2004, hidden in a consignment of pottery. From that one queen, we now have huge numbers of hornets.’
Anne says that for 20 years Asian hornets have been slowly decimating the European pollinator’s ecosystem. She says: ‘Where they have established in Europe, they are predating on pollinating insects, including honeybees. We can see they have actually reduced pollination rates.
‘To keep an Asian Hornet nest going, they need to feed protein to their larvae, and that protein comes from honey bees. For example, if the Asian hornets discover a hive, it’s like a supermarket for them … just a massive, ready-to-eat supply of honeybees, which they grab, dissect on the wing and take only the thorax back for their larvae.’
The general perception is that this is mainland Europe’s problem, but the hornets have been spotted in East Sussex and Kent this year. ‘They’re an incredibly adaptable insect. When they originally arrived in France, the general thinking was that “Oh, they’ll never survive this far north in Europe”. Well, they have. We know they’ve gone as far north as York in the UK.
‘With favourable winds, they can travel across the channel, where there are a lot of Asian hornets. They can also travel in people’s cars, caravans, on consignments of wood, lorry loads of cauliflowers … All these have brought Asian hornets into the UK and of course then deposited them around the country.’
The first Asian hornet – sometimes known as yellow-legged hornets – discovered in the UK was in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in 2016. The nest was traced and destroyed, but 23 confirmed sightings and 14 further nests were found over the next six years. Then, in 2023, the UK experienced an unprecedented number of Asian hornet incursions with 72 nests found in 56 locations.
Don’t kill them
The first week of September is Asian Hornet Week, launched by the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) as they look for more help from the public to spot and identify the pollinators’ predator.
Anne, who has a background in journalism and is now the editor of the BBKA Newsletter, says that it isn’t as simple as just killing the insects when you see them. She explains: ‘What we need is to identify them, track them back to the nest, and then destroy that. So beekeepers and the public are the most fantastic resources on the ground.’
Asian Hornets are rather like large black wasps: slightly smaller than our European hornet (yellow body, brown legs), they have an orange face, yellow legs and one yellow band on their abdomen. You can use the BBKA website to help you identify what you’ve got – if you suspect it’s an Asian hornet then take a photo and report it: the easiest way is through the Asian Hornet Watch app, or via this online form.
‘That starts the triage process,’ says Anne. ‘Then the National Bee Unit decides whether or not to send its squad of bee inspectors to monitor and track and trace back to the nest.’
If the numbers of the hornets continue to rise, they will become a huge threat to all of our pollinators, not just bees. On their hunt for protein, the hornets will kill dragonflies, bumblebees, butterflies and more. Beekeepers will be able to protect their apiaries with traps, but at great cost.
There is, however, an additional risk to humans. ‘There’s a lot of research going into how bad the hornet sting is by comparison with other stings. In certain parts of Europe, some people who have been stung are being hospitalised – a few have died. We’ve yet to find out whether that’s a personal allergic reaction, or if it’s more to do with the hornet’s venom. Is it more dangerous than other venoms? I don’t know.’
Never just a hobby
In general, the Asian hornets shouldn’t be a threat to humans – unless you are directly attacking its nest – but, as with wasps, the hornets are attracted to sweet food. They could be after your picnic or your garden fruit tree.
In France, this has made the vineyards a real hive of activity for the hornets: ‘When a hornet feeds its larvae, it gets a sweet reward from the larvae,’ Anne explains. ‘When the larvae emerge as hornets the adults then begin seeking that reward from nectar and vineyards are a prime location for them to feed on the grapes. This not only spoils the fruit but is also dangerous if you’re the one picking the harvest! The same applies if you have cherry or plum trees – they would also be attractive. Anywhere a wasp would go, the Asian hornet can be there.’
Anne picked up beekeeping after her children grew up and left home. For her, beekeeping is a ‘whole magical world ready to be explored’.
Calling beekeeping ‘a hobby’ perhaps undermines how vital bees – and all pollinators – are to our ecosystem.
‘If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.’ – not the words of Anne Ashford but of Albert Einstein. Pollinators affect 35 per cent of global agricultural land, and figures published by Friends of the Earth estimate that the annual value of crops produced in the UK with the assistance of pollinators is £691m.
‘There is a lot of research is going on all over Europe into Asian hornets and their impact – not just on honeybees and honey production but also more widely on pollination and horticulture, viticulture, agriculture … There’s no easy answer for our pollinators. Sadly, I think the only solution is for everybody to be vigilant and to keep reporting.’
For more information see the British Beekeepers Association bbka.org.uk
Do not under any circumstances disturb or provoke an active hornets’ nest.
