First Asian hornets of 2024 caught in Guernsey

Wednesday, 10 April 2024 13:21

Islanders are once again being asked to keep an eye out for Asian Hornets, as two queens are discovered in the Vale.

The States Asian Hornet Team launches a 'Spring Queening' project every year to control the number of nests - which can house up to 5,000 insects.

The invasive species prey on pollinating insects, such as bees, and damage our ecosystem.

On Friday (5 April) a queen was caught off La Mazotte, and the second was caught in a trap set up by Elspeth Wigmore, in Les Arguilliers Lane.

Elspeth has been looking after a trap since the island-wide trapping programme was first introduced in 2019.

Her trap was only 150m away from a nest that was removed in early September last year - this suggests the queens are attracted to particular areas when deciding where to build their nests.

Strategy Coordinator, Francis Russell, says managing the insect numbers is essential.

“It is very rewarding when our volunteers catch a hornet especially as many of them have been loyal volunteers checking their traps every spring for the past six years.

Queen hornets are strong flyers and can turn up anywhere across the island which is why we work hard to make sure we get complete coverage when setting our traps.

Our aim is to ensure that we can keep the populations of Asian hornet as low as possible, to protect public health and the island’s biodiversity.”

Sark captured their sixth queen of the year on Sunday. (7 April)