Page updated: 31/7/2026
Current information:
YLH Secondary Nest found in Farnham (27/7/2026).
Yellow-legged hornet 2026 rolling update from the NBU
Action by Fleet & District Beekeepers:
FBKA encourages all members to put out monitoring stations at home in order to increase the likelihood of spotting any YLH in our area.
The recommended best time to monitor is mid to end July / early August – when hornet foraging is at its peak.
1) Set up a monitoring station
A monitoring station is an open tray or container with bait, it enables invertebrates including Yellow-legged hornets if present, to visit the station to feed and fly away. It does not trap the insect.
This should be at home, positioned near to your house ideally, or a location where you can very regularly and esily observe the station. Do NOT place it at your apiary – you don’t want to attract YLH to where your colonies are. A simple tray with stones in will suffice, but the attractant evaporates more quickly. A jam jar or plastic container with a pierced lid and a wick works well and mitigates some of the evaporation.
Monitoring Station Attractant – Recipes to use.
Trappit is the “go to” attractant – but it is expensive. The recipe below is a simple one, and has been used successfully in Jersey:
1kg sugar, 1L water, 50g bramble or blackberry jam, 50ml apple cider vinegar (or old cheap beer)
2) Register your station with FBKA.
Please register you station using a simple google form – we don’t need a specific address, just a postcode and a name. This is so we can get an idea of the bait station coverage we as an association are providing, and identify any gaps. Please see member email for link to registration form.
3) Monitor you station regularly
(2-3 times a day if possible, but at least once daily – at lunch time perhaps).
Ideally the monitoring stations should be placed in a sunny position and monitoring undertaken in 30–60-minute spells daily.
The effectiveness of bait stations improves when placed at least 2 hours prior to monitoring, this enables vapour from the attractant to dissipate into the air to attract nearby hornets. Using a small aerosol plant mister to spray attractant can also help draw in YLH
Lets hope not, but if you do spot a YLH hornet visiting, take a clear photo (it will likely return with 15-40 minutes to feed again if you miss taking a photo the first time), and record the date and time of the visit.
Report it via the Asian Hornet App, and let me know too please. Please report sightings of Yellow-legged hornets (YLH), also known as Asian hornets, on this UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology online form or download the free Asian hornet Watch app for Apple devices or android devices.
General Information
If you need to refresh your memory on what to look for, take a look at the BBKA information pages and take the Asian Hornet Identifier Exercise. This can be found on Beebase or by following this link: https://www.bbka.org.uk/asian-hornet-action-team-map
Help reduce false sightings, Asian Hornet identity parade poster from Beecraft:
BeeCraft Asian hornet poster
BBKA Identification resource
Graham Read (Fleet AHAT Co-ordinator)
