Dear Members,
You may not be aware that a confirmed Asian Hornet was discovered in the Felixstowe area at the end of April. Although, Asian Hornets from Felixstowe are unlikely to reach us very quickly; living in the M3 Corridor with lorries from the continent routinely stopping at Fleet Services, puts us at a greater risk. Caravans, camper vans and tents also make excellent hideaways for Asian Hornets to secrete themselves. With this in mind, we all need to be very vigilant.
The BBKA would like all beekeepers to take their Asian Hornet Identifier Exercise in order to familiarise themselves so the UK can continue to avoid the devastation Asian hornets are causing abroad. It is a simple multi-choice quiz with answers you can select as many times as you wish but it is worth reading through the whole of the header page before clicking on the ‘Asian Hornet Team Exercise’ link. This can be found on Beebase or by following this link: https://www.bbka.org.uk/asian-hornet-action-team-map
Fleet BKA currently has a small core Asian Hornet Action Team (AHAT) that would respond to a sighting in our area. We are looking to expand our numbers to be ready should a possible sighting occur. No experience is necessary, except to do the BBKA AH Identifier Exercise. Those members new to beekeeping would be welcome as the greatest need would be to spend an hour or two observing a bait station, so the more AHAT members we have to share the load, the more effective we would be. Hopefully, you would never be called on but if a sighting occurs, this would be a great service to all Fleet Beekeepers so please don’t hesitate to join us.
Lynn Cox (Fleet AHAT Co-ordinator)
Help reduce false sightings, Asian Hornet identity parade poster from Beecraft:
BeeCraft Asian hornet poster