An Asian hornet sighting was reported on Saturday after an alert member of the public spotted the insect near the outside seating area for the restaurant at Pembroke. A photograph was submitted to the Asian Hornet Team who were able to confirm that it was an Asian hornet.
This is more than four months since the last sighting of an Asian hornet on Guernsey, back on 3rd June, and is the fifth to be sighted this year. While there is the possibility that this sighting could be a single individual that has flown in from France or from one of the other islands, we cannot rule out the possibility of a late nest in the north of the island that has gone undetected throughout the summer.
From past experience, the Asian Hornet Team know that an absence of sightings does not necessarily mean there are no hornets on the island. In 2019 a nest in a garden near Havelet remained undetected for the duration of the summer and was only detected and subsequently removed at the end of October.
Over the next week the Asian Hornet Team will be trying to locate more hornets around the Pembroke area with the intention of tracking them back to an elusive nest.
Francis Russell, Project Coordinator of the Asian Hornet Strategy, commented: “The support from Islanders has been essential in keeping on top of these highly invasive pests. Even though things appear to have been relatively quiet on the Asian hornet front this year, we must always assume that there will be hornets nesting on the island somewhere that we don’t yet know about.
“At this time of the year when the weather is against them, the hornets may well be attracted to late flowering shrubs and garden plants such as the False Castor Oil Plant (Fatsia japonica). It only takes one missed nest in the autumn for the populations to rapidly increase the year after, so please remain vigilant and report any suspicious-looking insects to the Asian Hornet Team”.
If you think you have spotted an Asian hornet, try to take a photograph and observe which direction it flies. Please do not kill it during the ‘Track don’t Trample’ phase of the Strategy (June -October). Email your sighting details and photo to asianhornet@gov.gg or call 07839 197082.
The Asian Hornet Team can then use these records to track the worker hornets back to the nest. These nests may be sited anywhere from tall trees to lower down in hedges or brambles so the advice to all gardeners and contractors is to check carefully for signs of activity before you cut back hedges or vegetation.
If you think you have found an Asian hornet inside a building, try to contain it if possible and submit your findings to the Asian Hornet Team as described above.
For useful identification guides and more information about Asian hornets and the Strategy, click here.
