On 28th July the National Bee Unit (NBU) removed a secondary Asian hornet nest in Plymouth. The inspectors located the primary nest on 1st August and destruction will take place later in the week.

The NBU located a primary Asian hornet nest in Hawkinge on 30th of July which was destroyed and removed.

After responding to a credible sighting in Folkestone, Kent the NBU located a nest on 1st of August. Destruction is planned to occur in the following days.

The NBU are also monitoring 5 further credible sightings of Asian hornets.

If you think you have seen an Asian hornet, please notify the Great British Non Native Species Secretariat (NNSS) immediately. In the first instance sightings should be reported through the free Asian Hornet Watch App, available for Android and iPhone.

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National Bee Unit inspectors are carrying out enhanced surveillance near Chelmsford, in response to a compelling report of Asian hornet (Vespa velutina).

Further information regarding the yellow-legged Asian hornet can be found on Defra’s Asian Hornet sightings page and on BeeBase’s Asian hornet page. For media enquiries, please contact the Defra Press Office: 0330 0416560

We ask beekeepers to remain vigilant, record monitoring trap locations on BeeBase by logging in and updating their my apiaries page, report suspected sightings using the ‘Asian hornet Watch’ app for iPhone and Android, or the online reporting form.

A beekeeper in the Ascot area of Berkshire filmed live insects near a hive, photographed a dead Vespa velutina and reported the sighting using the using the ‘Asian hornet Watch’ app.

Further information regarding the Asian hornet can be found on our Asian hornet page of BeeBase and on Defra’s news page. Please direct all media enquiries to the Defra Press Office: 0330 0416560

The new Official Controls Regulation (OCR) will apply directly to the UK from 14th December 2019. Please read the OCR Factsheet for further information.

Beekeepers should continue to monitor their colonies throughout the winter as temperatures in some regions of the UK have been unusually high for the winter months, allowing honey bee flight and forage of pollen. In some cases, small patches of brood are still being reared and the demand on the colony’s food resources ongoing.

Where temperatures do not allow for a sugar syrup feed, fondant icing can be placed directly on the top bars of the colony, above the cluster and fed as required.

For further information, please see the ‘Best Practice Guidance No. 7 – Feeding Bees Sugar’ on the following BeeBase Page: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167

More information can be found here.

This year the emails will be sent out using the Government Notify system and you will receive an email from national.hive.count@notifications.service.gov.uk. Please make a note of this mailbox and mark it as a friendly to prevent it from being blocked by your email provider. Any replies to this mailbox should still reach us directly.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/asian-hornet-identified-in-lancashire

Further guidance on the Asian hornet can be found on the Asian hornet pages of BeeBase including an Asian hornet ID sheet and Asian hornet poster . Bee inspectors from APHA National Bee Unit will be carrying out surveillance and monitoring in a 1-2 km radius around the initial sighting. Additional monitoring and surveillance will be carried out in the Boston area where the cauliflower was grown.

The NBU have written a monitoring trap for the Asian hornet fact sheet and an Asian hornet trap making video to help assist you in monitoring for the Asian hornet.

You can report sightings with your smart phone or tablet, by using the ‘Asian hornet Watch’ app for Androids and iOS. The app also uses GPS which allows the user to submit the exact location of their finding, allowing any confirmed sightings to be followed up quickly and efficiently.

Alternatively, you can submit your sighting by email. When doing so, please include as much information as possible, including where you saw the sighting, name, contact number/ address and if possible an image. Send your sightings to: alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk.

Finally you can also use the online recording form which can be found at:

http://www.brc.ac.uk/risc/alert.php?species=asian_hornet

Please could all media enquiries be directed to the Defra press Office: 0208 225 7510

In some regions of the UK, colonies are starting to show symptoms of high levels of Varroa mites, for example wing deformities and perforated cappings. Therefore, it might be prudent to start monitoring colony mite populations and information on how to do this can be found on page 15 of the Managing Varroa booklet. Also, the Varroa calculator can be used to help calculate your estimated mite population in your colonies:

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm

If your colonies have a high amount of Varroa, i.e 1000 mites after calculating it from the average drop, you may want to treat them with a registered varroacide. Suitable treatments where brood is present would include:

Apiguard;
Apilife Var;
Apistan*;
Bayvarol*;
Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS) and;
Thymovar.

If you wish to use an oxalic acid based product then a broodless condition should be created first. Additionally, if you have honey for human consumption on the hives, remember that MAQs is currently the only registered product which can be used. When using any medicines it is important to remember to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

*Mite resistance to these products have been recorded and so a resistance test (the Beltsville test) should be carried out before using the product.