Is this an Asian Hornet ?

[einsteinagogo]

Don't panic this photo was taken in Brittaney, France!

but, I've got some other interesting photos....

that I thought I'd better check here, because my photo and real life observation looks better than most photos I've seen! (well I thinks so!)

 

[Millet]

Yip that is sure a Asian thing..look's dead though.

 

[einsteinagogo]

I thought as much...

oh no, very alive when photographed.... that was just a single

they were many more, when walking, a loud buzzing....

just found it strange they seem to be attracted to wrotten figs, as well as the bees, bees and Asian Hornet in total harmony!

 

[Plenty of honey]

I thought as much...



oh no, very alive when photographed.... that was just a single



they were many more, when walking, a loud buzzing....



just found it strange they seem to be attracted to wrotten figs, as well as the bees, bees and Asian Hornet in total harmony!

The hornets and bees are both attracted to the high sugars in the figs, however the hornets are on their way out and you know this because their not searching for high proteins to feed young, their all doing the same as wasps, just hanging around as they die off ! We found last year if you start trapping around this time of year you do get a lot of queens looking for sugars to help see them over the winter! The trapping period in the late summer is usually only a few weeks, as usually we expect temperatures around 10 degrees max by mid November!


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[einsteinagogo]

The hornets and bees are both attracted to the high sugars in the figs, however the hornets are on their way out and you know this because their not searching for high proteins to feed young, their all doing the same as wasps, just hanging around as they die off ! We found last year if you start trapping around this time of year you do get a lot of queens looking for sugars to help see them over the winter! The trapping period in the late summer is usually only a few weeks, as usually we expect temperatures around 10 degrees max by mid November!


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Interesting....

 

[castanea]

In Provence the Asians are still searching for protein, coming to the hive for bees. The Europeans on the other hand are are still eating fruit, Our Sharron Fruit tree has lots on at the moment we have to be very careful when around the tree.

 

[mazzamazda]

In Provence the Asians are still searching for protein, coming to the hive for bees. The Europeans on the other hand are are still eating fruit, Our Sharron Fruit tree has lots on at the moment we have to be very careful when around the tree.

That is late for Asian hornets, ours released queens a few days ago and we must be 7-10o higher temps than you? Id be tempted to try and poison a few and you might kill a few hundred queens

 

[Plenty of honey]

That is late for Asian hornets, ours released queens a few days ago and we must be 7-10o higher temps than you? Id be tempted to try and poison a few and you might kill a few hundred queens

Yes your completely correct, I should have pointed out for everyone else’s benefit I am situated right up in north Brittany so it’s a little colder here. Asians are on the end if their nests lifecycle. Further south it may be a completely different story!



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[Trunkles]

Have just dropped in on this thread and it makes interesting reading!

In Devon we have a DBKA initiative to set up Asian Hornet Action Teams of members of local BKAS... this has come about following the outbreak of AH in Woolacombe last summer.....and instrument in leading it is Martyn Hocking who discovered the V.v workers raiding hishives.

We have identified caravans, motorhomes and Camping units of all types as vectors for the accidental introduction of founding queens to the UK......we think that ocassionally individuals may be using nice cosy spaces in units to hibernate autumn . Then the owners of units drive home for the new spring and a fertile queen wakes up in a new country to set up a dynasty!

Its hitherto been thought lorry traffic, especially loads of timber, has been the main risk ( the Tetbury incident has been attributed to such, I believe), but when you think about it who parks up alongside rivers and lakes near tall trees The favourite nesting places of V.v) and only goes home when the weather gets cold? and who goes to Portugal and Spain to spend the winter and comes home to Blighty just as the queens want to wake up on a nice warm spring day?

Do you bee keepers on the continent ever think of telling Motorhome and caravan users about the problem and to beware of hibernating queens? I am not surprised if you don't, its not something you would think of but i am wondering if we could get something like a campaign going over there to publicize the problem among campers caravaners and Motorhomers.

What do you think euro bee keepers? IN the DBKA initiative we are trying to think up all sorts of measure we could initiate to stop AH arriving over here.

 

[For want of a better word]

Great initiative
I am quite sure that 100s of pairs of beekeeper's eyes will keep a look out for the beasts...
However I am wary of FAKE NEWS... we had 2 reports one from an apiary in Plymouth and one from Luckett Woods on the Mid Tamar Valley... the reported sightings were no doubt by persons sadly attempting to draw some attention to them selves.... not sure how much looking for them cost the taxpayer?

Yeghes da

* also a "Asian Hornet" day at Newlyn in Cornwall that was extremely well attended

 

[viridens]

To be fair, there is still a lot of confusion for those well meaning citizens who Google 'Asian hornets', especially when 'giant' creeps in. Articles like this don't help either...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857209/asian-hornets-coming-to-uk/

 

[Trunkles]

It is the waste of the Bee Inspector's time by false reports that is one thing the Devon initiative aims to avoid. Local BKA teams ( retired persons mainly who have time) would go out and verify( or not) sightings and then start the collection of evidence (photos and sample insect) to send off for analysis. In the mean time if the suspect is though to be V.v then tracking could be started. Its what the bee keepers on Jersey are doing already.

 

[Trunkles]

Great initiative
I am quite sure that 100s of pairs of beekeeper's eyes will keep a look out for the beasts...
However I am wary of FAKE NEWS... we had 2 reports one from an apiary in Plymouth and one from Luckett Woods on the Mid Tamar Valley... the reported sightings were no doubt by persons sadly attempting to draw some attention to them selves.... not sure how much looking for them cost the taxpayer?

Yeghes da

* also a "Asian Hornet" day at Newlyn in Cornwall that was extremely well attended

I have just come back to this thread after 3 days and read you post, icanhopit.

I agree about 'fake news' But the point about the Devon initiative to set up BKA action teams is that we can take the pressure off NBU and the Inspectors by investigating reports and sorting out the spurious from the genuine......and yes these teams will be properly 'trained' to identify and distinguish V.v from other species.

The main thing we need is a well informed public much in the way the public was well informed when Colorado Beetle was a threat. Lots of posters at ports, full page notices in newspapers and magazines and relevant organisations being made aware of the threat of importing queens to this country in Autumn, Winter, and Spring.

 

[Trunkles]

Ah... I didn't go to page two of the Thread....! Didn't realize I had already posted a comment about icanhopits post.......Stupid boy!

 

[Norton Caff]

Being a camper-van owner and a beekeeper, I am wondering if there would be any value in a car sticker with a clear picture of an Asian Hornet. These could be given out at campsites or the Camping and Caravan Club and the Caravan Club might be able to circulate them.

 

[Trunkles]

Being a camper-van owner and a beekeeper, I am wondering if there would be any value in a car sticker with a clear picture of an Asian Hornet. These could be given out at campsites or the Camping and Caravan Club and the Caravan Club might be able to circulate them.

We have an article being written to go in the Camping and Caravan/Caravan Clubs magazines and maybe we could suggest they follow up with this idea. Trouble is we don't have any funds in the Devon Initiative group to do something along those lines.

Maybe if everybody who reads this could download the Posters from the Non-native Species Secretariat website and make a laminate to put in car and van windows we could achieve the same effect:

Go to
https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/downloadDocument.cfm?id=872

And there are a couple more ID sheets there that are good to use.

 

[viridens]

The campervan theory is an interesting one, but I don't really understand the aim of the car stickers etc. Please explain.

 

[Millet]

To be fair, there is still a lot of confusion for those well meaning citizens who Google 'Asian hornets', especially when 'giant' creeps in. Articles like this don't help either...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857209/asian-hornets-coming-to-uk/

Quoted this from the last paragraph.. are they for real.. i would be like a whippet if i was getting attacked.. .

Don’t run.They can fly faster than you can run and are intrigued by moving targets and consider running a provocation. Crouch low to the ground, stop moving and try to cover your head.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Quoted this from the last paragraph.. are they for real.. i would be like a whippet if i was getting attacked.. .

Don’t run.They can fly faster than you can run and are intrigued by moving targets and consider running a provocation. Crouch low to the ground, stop moving and try to cover your head.

Having had a head full of crabro on a walking holiday in Turkey I made a passable imitation of a shrieking whippet.

 

[Karol]

To be fair, there is still a lot of confusion for those well meaning citizens who Google 'Asian hornets', especially when 'giant' creeps in. Articles like this don't help either...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1857209/asian-hornets-coming-to-uk/

Even more so when the hornet pictured balling the wasp is crabro and not velutina regardless of the term giant.