I am sure that we have all been irritated by the presence of wasps buzzing around us whilst we are trying to enjoy a summer picnic or barbeque. Similarly, waste bins in parks and gardens always seem to be swarming in wasps during our visits on hot dry days, and we have had to take care to avoid wasp nests that we have encountered occasionally during our surveys and conservation work. However, by and large, wasps receive a “bad press” and certainly don’t deserve the reputation assigned to them in some popular newspapers and magazines. Indeed, wasps perform valuable services to us humans, and without their presence, life for us would be much more difficult, if not impossible.
Unlike bees, wasps are principally predators and scavengers, and they consume vast quantities of other “pest insects”, all of whom would attack our crops and garden plants if left to their own devices. In addition, they form a significant portion of our pollinator community, as they gather nectar and pollen, so without them our supermarket shelves would be empty of products that make use of farmed crops, and our gardens and countryside would be without the hundreds of different flowers that make them a pleasure to be in. Unfortunately though, wasps do have a sweet tooth, especially in autumn when insect prey is in short supply, so they do then pay more attention to sources of sugar such as fruits.
Hornets are, fundamentally, larger and more robust wasps, and their size and the ferocity of their venom adds to the concern that most of us experience if we see them. However, they are comparatively much rarer than wasps or bees, and despite many thousands of hours of working in or enjoying our countryside, we have encountered very few of these creatures. In the main, therefore, humans have little to fear from wasps and hornets.
However, one hornet species is causing increasing concern across the UK, particularly amongst honey-bee keepers, and that is the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina. Originating in China, this insect is thought to have been imported to France in plant pots, from where pregnant queens have been carried on winds to the Channel Islands and, more recently, the UK mainland. Smaller than the Eurasian Hornet, it has a dark body (thorax and abdomen) with fine yellow lines near its waist and a broader yellow band near the tip of its tail. When seen from the front, its head is orange in colour, whilst the lower halves of its legs are yellow. First seen in Gloucestershire in 2016, increasing numbers have been reported across southern England in successive years, and already 2021 looks as if it could be another bad year.
Particularly active in August and September, they are known to patrol the entrances to bee nests or hives and to attack worker honey bees as they return, and with each hornet thought to be able to kill 50 bees a day, their presence presents a formidable threat to bee communities. In addition, the presence of hornets outside a nest means that large numbers of worker bees stay to defend the entrance and thus can’t assist with the gathering of food for the rest of the colony, so the whole colony suffers and might not survive. So far, unlike Asian honey-bees, European bees haven’t found a way to defend themselves from the hornets, so British bees rely entirely on us to defend them.
With all the other threats to our bee colonies, this is not good news, so the Beekeepers Association, through its “Asian Hornet Week 2022” is urging members of the public and bee keepers to report any Asian Hornets that are seen, so that the nests and queens can be eradicated.
Although honey bees form a significant part of the Asian Hornet’s diet, it also preys on a wide range of other pollinator insects, increasing the danger presented to our farming and gardening communities. Our fingers are crossed that large number of people will respond to the plea to search out and report Asian Hornets and that this risk to our pollinator communities can be controlled; we shall certainly be looking out for them during our work.
JP Ecological Services 