SOMERSET BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
  • Home
    • Devon Apicultural Research Group (DARG)
  • About
    • About the SBKA
    • History
    • SBKA Board of Trustees
    • Who's Who
    • Support Us
    • Donate to SBKA
  • Events
    • All Events
    • Beginners Courses
    • Advanced Courses
    • Apiary Meetings
    • Honey Shows
    • Lectures & Workshops
  • Members
    • Getting Started >
      • Joining SBKA
      • Introduction to Beekeeping
      • Beginners Courses
      • Life In a Honeybee Colony
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Beekeeping Suppliers
    • Education >
      • How To Guides
      • Video Guides
      • Courses and Qualifications
      • Examinations
    • Useful Links
    • Membership >
      • Benefits
      • Get Involved
      • Vacancies
      • County Membership
    • Members Area >
      • SBKA CIO Documents (Google Drive)
      • Members Yearbook
      • Members Blog
      • Former Charity AGM Info
      • Former Charity Council Meetings
      • Financial Info
      • Lecture recordings
      • Policies >
        • Safeguarding Policy
    • Pests & Diseases >
      • Asian hornet
      • Hygiene
      • Reporting Foulbrood
    • SBKA Newsletters
    • Beekeeping Suppliers
    • Research
  • Branches
    • Find Nearest Branch
    • Burnham >
      • Burnham Beginners Course
      • Burnham Improvers Course
      • Contact Burnham
    • Central >
      • Central Beginners Course
      • Contact Central
    • Exmoor >
      • Exmoor Beginners Course
      • Contact Exmoor
    • Frome >
      • Frome Beginners Course
      • Contact Frome
      • Frome Library
      • Frome Group Apiary
    • Mendip >
      • Mendip Beginners Course
      • Contact Mendip
    • Quantock >
      • Quantock Beginners Course
      • Contact Quantock
    • Somerton >
      • Somerton Beginners Course
      • Contact Somerton
    • South East >
      • South East Beginners Course
      • South East Newsletters
      • Contact South East
    • South West >
      • Contact South West
    • Taunton >
      • Taunton Newsletters
      • Taunton Beginners Course
      • Contact Taunton
    • Wedmore & Cheddar >
      • Wedmore & Cheddar Beginners Course
      • Contact Wedmore & Cheddar
    • Yeovil >
      • Yeovil Beginners Course
      • Yeovil Taster Day
      • Yeovil Equipment List
      • Contact Yeovil
  • News
    • Press Releases
    • Image Gallery
    • Resources
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Report a Swarm
    • Press & Media
    • Local Honey Search
  • Report a Swarm

Press Releases

Asian hornet experts brief South West beekeepers

1/3/2018

 
Picture
Asian hornet experts briefed the South West Beekeepers’ Forum and posed outside the venue with an outsize model of the invasive insect. Pictured are, from left to right, Dr Pete Kennedy, a research fellow at the University of Exeter; North Devon beekeeper Martyn Hocking, who discovered Asian hornets in his apiary last year; South West Beekeepers’ Forum Chairman Peter Darley; beekeeper Bob Hogge from Jersey where Asian hornets established within a year.
​Beekeepers in the South West are being urged to prepare for more sightings of the latest threat to honeybees and pollinators – the highly destructive Asian hornet.
Experts have been briefing the South West Beekeepers’ Forum (SWBKF), which represents around 10,000 beekeepers.
Latest research shows the speed with which Asian hornets are spreading in Europe destroying honeybee colonies and putting a critical strain on other insects vital to local ecosystems.
Dr Pete Kennedy, a research fellow at the University of Exeter, warned that in 10 years Asian hornets could be widespread throughout the South West and Wales if left unchecked; in 20 years most of England would be affected.
He presented the latest findings from a government-funded project which attached specially-designed tags to hornets in Jersey and France to test tracking systems. These techniques are used to track hornets back to their nests so professional teams can quickly dispose of them. 
SWBKF Chairman Peter Darley, from Poole, said: “The Asian hornet is the next big test of British bees and beekeepers.”
He urged beekeepers, wildlife groups and the public to all play their part in detecting the insect and reporting it to the Great Britain Non-Native Species Secretariat. 
“One of the difficulties with the Asian hornet is that it can be imported anywhere in the country on transport from France and Spain and that’s what we have to be so careful about.”
He called on lorry drivers and cross Channel ferry passengers to carefully check their vehicles in the summer in case they were unwittingly returning to the UK with an Asian hornet.
Jersey beekeeper Bob Hogge described how the invasive insect arrived on the island two years ago and had spread rapidly. Beekeepers were working with the Channel Islands’ government to hunt down and eradicate nests and were developing new tracking techniques.
The most recent sighting in the UK was in Woolacombe, Devon, by beekeeper Martyn Hocking, who described the shock of making “a most unexpected and unwelcome discovery”.
“As a result of what happened in my apiary, I would like to see beekeeper action teams set up to investigate possible sightings and support individual beekeepers,” he said. 
South West Regional Bee Inspector, Simon Jones, said rapid reporting could make all the difference between eradication and widespread establishment and encouraged all beekeepers to know how to spot the insect.
Asian hornets are slightly smaller than native hornets, have a distinctive black/dark brown thorax; brown abdominal segments with the fourth segment almost entirely yellow-orange, brown legs with yellow ends, a black head and an orange-yellow face.
Beekeeping associations in the South West are drawing up ‘battle plans’ ahead of the coming season.
Ends

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    September 2023
    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    February 2021
    August 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017

    Categories

    All
    Asian Hornet
    Beekeeper
    Beekeepers
    #bringbackthebees
    Honeybees
    Honey Show
    Local Honey
    Pollination
    Pollinators
    Save The Bees

    RSS Feed

Home

EVENTS

BRANCHES

Contact

Picture
Somerset Beekeepers Association Charity © 2021     Registered CIO Charity 1206483
​Affiliated to the British Beekeepers Association
​Click here to view our Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • Devon Apicultural Research Group (DARG)
  • About
    • About the SBKA
    • History
    • SBKA Board of Trustees
    • Who's Who
    • Support Us
    • Donate to SBKA
  • Events
    • All Events
    • Beginners Courses
    • Advanced Courses
    • Apiary Meetings
    • Honey Shows
    • Lectures & Workshops
  • Members
    • Getting Started >
      • Joining SBKA
      • Introduction to Beekeeping
      • Beginners Courses
      • Life In a Honeybee Colony
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Beekeeping Suppliers
    • Education >
      • How To Guides
      • Video Guides
      • Courses and Qualifications
      • Examinations
    • Useful Links
    • Membership >
      • Benefits
      • Get Involved
      • Vacancies
      • County Membership
    • Members Area >
      • SBKA CIO Documents (Google Drive)
      • Members Yearbook
      • Members Blog
      • Former Charity AGM Info
      • Former Charity Council Meetings
      • Financial Info
      • Lecture recordings
      • Policies >
        • Safeguarding Policy
    • Pests & Diseases >
      • Asian hornet
      • Hygiene
      • Reporting Foulbrood
    • SBKA Newsletters
    • Beekeeping Suppliers
    • Research
  • Branches
    • Find Nearest Branch
    • Burnham >
      • Burnham Beginners Course
      • Burnham Improvers Course
      • Contact Burnham
    • Central >
      • Central Beginners Course
      • Contact Central
    • Exmoor >
      • Exmoor Beginners Course
      • Contact Exmoor
    • Frome >
      • Frome Beginners Course
      • Contact Frome
      • Frome Library
      • Frome Group Apiary
    • Mendip >
      • Mendip Beginners Course
      • Contact Mendip
    • Quantock >
      • Quantock Beginners Course
      • Contact Quantock
    • Somerton >
      • Somerton Beginners Course
      • Contact Somerton
    • South East >
      • South East Beginners Course
      • South East Newsletters
      • Contact South East
    • South West >
      • Contact South West
    • Taunton >
      • Taunton Newsletters
      • Taunton Beginners Course
      • Contact Taunton
    • Wedmore & Cheddar >
      • Wedmore & Cheddar Beginners Course
      • Contact Wedmore & Cheddar
    • Yeovil >
      • Yeovil Beginners Course
      • Yeovil Taster Day
      • Yeovil Equipment List
      • Contact Yeovil
  • News
    • Press Releases
    • Image Gallery
    • Resources
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Report a Swarm
    • Press & Media
    • Local Honey Search
  • Report a Swarm