Yellow-Legged Hornet Asian alert: Trap, snap, report!
Credit: APHA
The Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet is an invasive non-native species and a major threat to all our native pollinators and other insects.
They’re particularly notorious for their predation of insects and spiders, with honeybees being their primary target. They have a voracious appetite, with each colony capable of consuming over 100,000 insects in a single season.
This poses a significant threat to bee populations, which play a crucial role in pollinating a wide variety of flowers, including most of the fruit and vegetable plants that we consume. Pollinator populations are already in decline, and a further decrease could reduce crop yields, resulting in higher food prices and scarcity. Consequently, this invasive non-native hornet species impacts everyone directly.
How to Identify Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet:
- Does it look very black?
- Has it got a wide orange stripe on the 4th segment of its abdomen?
- Do its legs look as if they’ve been dipped in yellow paint?
If you spot a Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet or a nest, please report it immediately.
See it! Snap it! Send it!
It is crucial all possible sightings are reported so experts can take quick and effective action to eradicate Yellow-Legged Asian Hornets so including an image is really important to confirm its identification. Without an image sightings are much less likely to be followed up.
The best way to report any sightings is via the ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app found on Apple or Android App Stores.
The home screen of the App includes a reminder about personal safety, allows users to check similar species and how to report a sighting of an Asian Hornet with a photo for identification. Date and location are auto completed, and brief comments can be included. Reporting can lead to investigation and nest destruction which is vital for eradication.
For more information, visit the British Beekeepers Association’s Identify and Report Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet page.