Help asian hornet?

[kez035]

Hi, i'm new to this forum. I'm trying to find out if there have been any sightings in the UK of any Asian hornets? I'm asking because about 3 weeks ago i saw a large, roughly 2inches long, hornet in my garden. It was just sat on my fence post so i got a very good look at it. It had an orange head, black wings and a segmented body. I searched google as i have never seen anything like it before and the only thing that resembled it was an Asian hornet! Last week i was at my dads with 7 other members of my family when my uncle spotted something large with black wings on my dads patio. When my dad went over to look it flew up at his face and started flying around pretty low in circles. We all got a good look and agreed it looked like the images on the internet of an Asian hornet. It flew around my head in a circle and the sound was a very low thumping drone, almost like a low flying helicopter in the distance. Any ideas what it could be if they haven't come over to the UK? It definately wasn't a European one, Thanks.

[Matt Smith]

We do not have Asian Giant Hornets in the UK. The orange head sounds typical of our own native hornet, and the size you quote is too small for a Giant Asian Hornet - I have seen and caught Giant Asian Hornets in the wild in Nepal - they are BIG insects. Try looking at images of our own Hornet Vespa crabro or Humming Bird Hawk moth, see if anything looks like the insect you saw.

[eucera]

The Giant Asian Hornet, Vespa mandarinia is, as Matt says, a south east Asian species, with no records of any introductions to Europe at all. It has a rather similar distribution in the wild to the Tiger.

There is one accidentally introduced Asian Hornet in Europe, and that is Vespa velutina, which is in France, but despite spreading quite rapidly from Bordeaux (which it is assumed is the point of entry to France), only a single record from the Channel coast is known, and that is near St. Malo (ie about as far away from the UK as it is possble and still be on the Channel Coast). If you would like an information sheet on both the regular Hornet and V. velutina, pm me with a regular email address and I can attach them for you.

[kez035]

Thanks for the replies, Matt it definately was not any of the insects you have mentioned, i wish it was as it would put my mind at ease a little as i have 2 kids, a 4yr old and a 10 week old. My 4 year old is already limited in our garden due to a rather sizeable nest of red ants!!. I have seen European hornets plenty of times, as well as a queen hornet, got a very good close up of that one as she stung me! It was much larger than a European Hornet and had different markings and from what i have read on Asian Hornets they tend to measure 2inches in length which is what i stated. Whatever we saw was at least 2inches and quite wide also, it was BIG! Also from what i have read due to the weather we have been having recently people are saying there is a good chance that the ones in France could come over as they have now been found in Paris which is the furthest north that they have been seen. If i see another one i will try to get a picture. The one we saw in my dads garden seems to be sticking around somewhere behind his fence.

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Kez, and welcome to WAB!

Can you draw it in colour as close as you remember and upload it to our Image Archive please - http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ar...loadphoto.php? That's a good way of identifying in the absense of a photograph. Keep the camera handy, if you think you'll see it again!

What part of the UK are you in?

Take care,

Jason

[basquesteve]

Hope this helps from last year

http://

Common Hornet

http://

Asian Hornet

Asian and Common Hornet workers are about the same size the Asian's abdomen is very much darker with little yellow Interestingly the Asian does not fly at night even with strong electric illumination

[kez035]

Thank you they are very good pictures!! It was darker than the european Hornet and its wings were dark same as on the Asian. If i see it again i will see what the yellow patterning on its abdomen was like.

Jason, i am in a small town called Leek in north Staffordshire. It's a farming town so we're surrounded by open country, wooded areas and also lakes and rivers so we have a pretty fair range of wildlife in the area. Coincidentally my parents caught, photographed and identified an Australian spider in their bathroom! luckily even though it was venomous it was not fatally so....despite the menacing looking skull on its back!!! lol. And last summer i also caught a garter snake sunning itself on a tarmac road!! (we keep reptiles so it was pretty easy to identify)....just goes to show anything is possible.

Also was wondering if it is an Asian hornet obviously the temperature is adequate for it to survive but is it adequate for them to establish or would they just gradually die off?

[basquesteve]

Only the queen survives the winter by hibernating all of the colonies workers and drones will die with the first hard frost they never survive a winter. I have found living with both species of Hornet not to bad a problem they tend to keep them selves to them selves. It may be worth purchasing an electric bat its a racket with batteries in the handle, bare wires and very high voltage that electrocutes all sorts of beast's approx 12 euros here if they are coming into the house
The Asian is a problem as it kills worker bees returning to the hive, a few of them can kill off the hive in days

[kez035]

you see thats one thing i've noticed. I have a rather large honeysuckle and peonies, roses etc so every year we get alot of honey and bumble bees which are never a problem. But this last few weeks i've noticed quite a few dead honeybees on my patio? Would European hornets do this too?

[basquesteve]

The Asian Hornets are terrible they wait at the hives entrance