Asian hornet alert - Kitchen Garden Magazine

Beekeepers are asking gardeners to be on the lookout for Asian hornets, following another confirmed sighting in the UK

An Asian hornet was found in early April by a member of the public in Bury in Lancashire, on a cauliflower which had been grown in Boston in Lincolnshire.

The Asian hornet is a predator of various invertebrates, including honeybees, and has been classified as a high-risk non-native species due to its threat to native biodiversity. It arrived in France in 2005, and the first UK sighting was in September 2016 in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. The latest sighting is the first since a nest was discovered in Devon last September, and work is now underway to identify any new nests, which includes setting up surveillance zones and traps in the Bury and Boston areas and deploying inspectors to visit local beekeepers.

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If you think you have seen an Asian hornet you can report it using the iPhone and Android app ‘Asian Hornet Watch’, where you will find identification pictures to help you distinguish it from the larger European hornet and the wood wasp, or by emailing [email protected] There is also more information at https://www.bbka.org.uk/report-asian-hornet

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.