Asian Hornet (Vespa volutina) Photo By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52006827

Dear Readers, I wrote a piece about the Asian Hornet last year. Whilst most of the articles published describe the impact of the insect on honeybees, I am personally also concerned about its impact on our native pollinator species, in particular bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies. While the number of Asian Hornet nests in the UK is currently pretty small, a recent study suggests that the range of prey taken by the insect is much broader than previously thought.The study looked at the stomach contents of both adult and larval Asian Hornets, and used genetic markers to indicate what the insects had fed on. The results showed an extremely diverse range of prey, from the expected honeybee to a wide range of other pollinators – 43 of the 50 commonest species found were flower visitors.

Most previous studies had looked at the prey taken by Asian Hornets in summer, and honeybees are certainly their favourite food at this time of year. However, early and late in the season bumblebees were a popular prey, along with wasps (particularly late in the year) and blowflies. Asian Hornets appear to be extremely adaptable and opportunistic predators, and will take whatever seems to be common and easily caught. Obviously bee hives fall into this category, especially as UK honeybees have not evolved with the Asian Hornet and so have none of the defence mechanisms that the Asian honeybee has, which makes them easy pickings. Bumblebees, too, are unfamiliar with this predator, and their larger size must make them a most desirable food source. While blowflies are not the most attractive animals to our eyes, they are extremely important ‘cleaners-up’ of everything from dead animals to cowpats, and again their high numbers at this kind of site must make them easy to catch.

It’s clear that if the Asian Hornet becomes established in the UK it will continue to prey on honeybees, particularly because where present the bees are usually available at a very high density. However, the threat to other insects, in particular pollinators, is also clear, especially as they are already endangered by a number of other factors including  honeybees themselves,  which can outcompete many other bee species because of their sheer numbers. The hornets’ stomachs also contained such diverse prey as spiders, beetles, butterflies, moths and true bugs.

So, what to do? The Asian Hornet is not yet considered to have become established in the UK by DEFRA, and this page shows the location of nests found in 2024, all of which were destroyed. At present, sightings are limited to the south of England and the Channel Islands, but if you think you have seen an Asian Hornet you can report it here. There’s also an app that you can use to report. Please do have a look back at my original Asian Hornet post for details of how to identify the insect – the last thing we want to be doing is killing our native hornets, or any of the other stripy critters that resemble them.

The establishment of the Asian Hornet (and a variety of other species that haven’t been able to survive here previously) may feel inevitable, but at least we can put it off for a bit longer. I’d like to hope that the refusal to allow neonicotinoids to be used on sugar beet last year is also a sign that at least one source of the decline of our insect populations might be removed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, whilst also planting anything I can think of for invertebrates to munch on.