Eden beekeepers are urging the public to report sightings of deadly Asian hornets that are looming ever nearer to Cumbria, following sightings over the border in Northumbria and Lancashire.
The invasive hornets, whose sting can be fatal to humans, also pose a lethal threat to native honey bees and other vital pollinating insects and have the potential to devastate agricultural and eco systems.
With a sighting of one of the hornets in Northumberland last year and also a more recent sighting in Preston, local beekeepers have launched a campaign centred around an information hub at Penrith Library dedicated to highlighting the issue, and they are also urging the public to keep an eye out and report any potential sightings.
Margaret Riches, of the Penrith Beekeepers Association, a registered charity, explains: “Our big push this season is making the public aware of this. We have had no tangible sightings in Cumbria, thankfully, but Penrith is considered to be a very high risk area due to the number of truck stops and lorries coming in from the south and the Continent.”
Since a fertilised Asian hornet queen arrived in France in 2004, the hornets have spread to Spain, Majorca, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Germany and the Channel Islands. Over 50 per cent of bee hives in these countries have been destroyed, along with other insects on which small birds depend for their survival.
“They can come in through vegetables and produce coming in on lorries,” said Margaret. “They can come in following people’s holidays. There are cases where people come home and open their suitcase and they fly out, or it has been trapped inside a caravan. They open up the caravan and the hornet flies out.
“Our job is to make the general public really aware of what they are looking out for. People need to report them – not catch them – if they see one they can take a picture of it and download an app, the picture goes off to a laboratory to beekeepers who are trained to identify them via the images.”
The Asian Hornet Watch app can be downloaded for free, with guidance on what to do.
“They are absolutely devastating,” warned Margaret. “Life has changed for everyone in France where they are prolific. One Asian hornet can eat 50 bees in a couple of hours.
“They will pick off any pollinators, they are greedy. They need to take stuff back to the nest to feed the young. They need lots of food. What has happened in France they have whole areas of France they are dubbing Silent France. On the food chain, bird life depends on small insects. That’s why they are calling it Silent France in some areas because there is no bird life any more. They have no insects to feed on.”
Even more worryingly, the North of England is a perfect habitat for the Asian hornet. It has trees to provide the wood that it needs to create the pulp to build its nests and in which the nests can remain hidden from view in the canopy of tall trees; sources of water to enable it to mulch the wood into the pulp; plentiful supplies of bees and other insects for its food. The unwanted Asian hornet also thrives in damp, cooler conditions.
Beekeepers warn that Asian hornets can have a potentially devastating impact on agriculture and eco systems because they obliterate insects which perform an important pollination role and are also part of a wider food chain, including vitally for our native birdlife.
The Asian hornet’s distinguishing features are its bright yellow legs, an orange face and an orange segment on its thorax. The body is mainly black/dark brown. Early detection, so that the Asian hornet can be tracked and its nests destroyed, is essential, says the Penrith Beekeepers Association.
