Bee Number 13

The Asian Hornet: Will we fare any better

A French lesson

We should consider the wider context of an invasion by the Asian hornet, because there are lessons to be learnt from the French experience. The invasion of France started in 2004 and it was greatly assisted in the years that followed by a lack of any central strategy to deal with the pest and an inconsistent nest destruction policy at local level. It took until December 2012 for the hornet to be decreed a public nuisance, but by then eradication had been impossible for years. Furthermore, to the dismay of beekeepers, it was only declared a category 2 pest, which meant there was no legal duty on the local authorities to destroy hornets’ nests and there was no central funding allocated for this either.

In the early years the local Mairie [town hall] would be notified of a nest and ‘les pompiers’, the local fire brigade, who were equipped with special clothing and were trained to operate the turntable ladders and hydraulic platforms needed to reach to the high nests, would be dispatched to deal with them. But by 2008 the firemen were only being sent to nests that posed a direct threat to the citizens, e.g. in public parks or shopping centres.

Destruction of nests was now carried out by commercial operators who charged anywhere between 100–300 euros, even 500 euros to do this. Such charges would reflect the often-difficult access and the need for two visits, the first to poison the nest and the second to remove it so that the local birdlife was not poisoned. A landowner might now decide not to report a nest on his or her property rather than face the cost of its destruction.

Will we fare any better?

We have the National Bee Unit prepared to locate and arrange to destroy nests, but for how long in the current financial climate? Are we beekeepers sufficiently organised to form volunteer nest-destruction groups, armed with very long poles, poison and specialist protective equipment? It is easy to look across the channel and point to the initial mistakes made by the French, but I suggest their beekeepers are just as well organised as we are, if not better. Furthermore, in France they have a louder voice than we do in this country.