I visited a nest of Asian hornets and what I saw did not reassure me
50-year-old investigator Coleen Reichling has been working for the National Bee Unit since 2017. (Image: Steve Finn)
Being sent to the Kent countryside to report on a fearsome invasive species, the Asian hornet, was definitely a letdown.
As I drove to Alkham, a small village in the stunning Alkham Valley near Dover, where a nest rigged for journalists had been discovered, I had visions of horrific stings and hospitalisations.
As I walked toward the construction site, I flinched at every insect that passed by.
But at the bait station set up by investigators from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit, I found that the hornets showed no interest in my presence at all.
Attracted to the plastic tub filled with stones and a pink sugar liquid, the hornets made it clear why they still pose a threat – if not to humans.
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We stood and watched as a hornet brutally attacked one of the wasps brave enough to approach, while the bodies of their less fortunate relatives floated nearby in the sweet syrup.
Some of the hornets, which have vicious-looking orange faces and a distinctive orange band near their giant stinger, were marked with pink and blue dots to indicate they had been seen at other stations.
Investigator Coleen Reichling, 50, who has worked with the National Bee Unit since 2017, fearlessly demonstrated how they tag the fearsome animals.
She skillfully caught an unmarked hornet in a net by covering the bait station and waiting for one to fly up.
After catching the hornet, Coleen wedged it between the mesh netting, being careful not to sting it, and carefully marked it with a white pen.
When she released the hornet, I crouched behind the photographer, but instead of the expected frenzied sting attack, the freshly marked hornet slowly flew away toward the nest.
Britain’s Gardeners’ Army is being deployed as the new Home Guard to protect the country’s honey bees from the deadly invasive Asian hornets.
The deadly insects, which first appeared in Britain in 2016 after being blown over from the continent, pose a serious threat to pollinators: a single swarm of hornets eats up to eleven kilograms of insects every year – 40 percent of which are honey bees.
Now investigators from the National Bee Unit, part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), are calling on the public to help contain the threat by reporting sightings of the animals.
They have developed an app called Asian Hornet Watch, which includes an identification guide and easy ways to report suspicious sightings.
Tracy Wilson, 61, head of plant and bee health at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, said: “The Asian hornet is a non-native insect species originally from Asia that has crossed over from the continent and poses a threat to our insect life in the UK.”
“Especially for our honey bees, but also for all pollinating insects that are vital to biodiversity in the UK.
“They eat our insects, an average nest consumes about 11 kilos of insects.
“Considering how small most insects are and how little they weigh, that’s a significant number of pollinators being taken from the environment, and about 40 percent of those will be honey bees.”
Thanks to tips from alert citizens, APHA has discovered four nests so far this year, but the agency expects that number to rise during the peak month of September.
Fewer nests have been found so far this year compared to last year, partly due to a new program that traps and destroys Asian hornet queens in the spring before they can take hold.
The Asian hornets first appeared in the UK in 2016 after being blown over from the continent. (Image: Steve Finn)
A nest found this year near the pretty village of Alkham, near Dover in Kent, was first identified after a local beekeeper discovered a hornet near his hives.
This prompted him to register the sighting on the Asian Hornet Watch app. The next day, investigators from APHA’s National Bee Unit arrived to confirm the sighting.
After observing the hornets, they managed to find the nest high up in the branches of a sycamore tree and destroyed it the following week.
The hornets are very distinctive and have some key features that the public can use to identify them, Tracey said: “They have three big identifying features.
“One of them is their yellow legs.
“Secondly, on the abdomen. If you look at a hornet, you will see a large orange ring at the bottom of the stinger on the abdomen.
“It also has a pretty cute little orange face.”
But once the winged beasts have been discovered, experts advise staying away from them, says Tracy: “They sting badly.”
“It’s worse than a wasp.
“Plus, it doesn’t have a barbed stinger, so once it’s done, it can come back and do it again.
“A mass attack by a hornet could have serious consequences, but it is unusual for something like this to happen unless their nest is threatened.
She added: “I think you could ask any bee inspector, they’ve probably been stung by an Asian hornet before, so we treat them with great respect, it’s not a pleasant experience.
“That’s why we also tell the public: don’t go near a nest. If you find a nest, always, always report it.”
