Thursday 19 April 2018
A queen Asian hornet has been found today, near the Longfrie in St Peter's.
It is highly likely that the hornet has very recently emerged from hibernation as a result of the warm weather.
The public are encouraged to be vigilant and report any potential sightings. Any queens that have survived the winter will be emerging from hibernation at this time of year. Each queen begins by building a grapefruit sized primary nest (containing up to 50 worker hornets), which may be in buildings or outhouses, before relocating to the larger secondary nest which could grow to contain up to 3,000 hornets.
The public are being encouraged not to kill the insects that they find. Most of the sightings reported last year were of our native wildlife. In the last week several reports of queen wasps have been received which were suspected to be Asian hornets.
If a suspected hornet is sighted, the public should take a photo if possible and email this to asianhornet@gov.gg. They should also include:
- The location,
- The direction the hornet flew in,
- Their name and contact details.
Or alternatively, they can log their sighting through the iPhone and Android recording app: Asian Hornet Watch, or telephone 234567 with as much information as possible.
