Asian hornet warning after nest destroyed in St Helier

Asian hornet warning after nest destroyed in St Helier

Alastair Christie, the Island’s Asian hornet co-ordinator, is urging people walking through town to keep an eye out for nests, which, in addition to their more traditional rural haunts, have begun to appear in St Helier.

Last night, Mr Christie and his team removed a nest which had been reported by a passer-by on Wednesday morning.

The nest, which was in the eaves of a block of apartments in Roussel Street, off Rouge Bouillon, was ‘hidden in plain sight’, according to Mr Christie.

‘What is concerning is that around 200 people would have been walking past this particular nest every day for weeks without anyone noticing, so I want to ask people to look around and keep an eye out,’ said Mr Christie.

A total of 24 nests have so far been found this year, 20 primary and four secondary, compared with a total of 17 throughout the same period in 2018. And as hornets only build their nests throughout the spring, Mr Christie added that he was hopeful they would not find too many more.

Primary nests are built at the start of spring by fertilised queens, which produce their first cohort of workers, which go on to build larger secondary nests.

Last month, Mr Christie reported 80 individual sightings of lone queens in the Island. However, he said that the revised and final total was 69, as some of his team had been including nests which contained a queen in the final figures. Last year, just four sightings of lone queens were reported.

‘The increase in the amount of sightings, while in no doubt is due to the fact that there are more this year, is also impacted by the increased awareness among Islanders, as well as a milder winter, allowing more of the fertilised queens to survive throughout hibernation,’ added Mr Christie.

Mr Christie has asked people to keep an eye out when walking through town for both primary and secondary nests, which are the size of a golf ball and a melon, respectively.

‘The most amount of sightings have been in the east of the Island, due to the fact that it is closer to France, where they originally travelled from,’ he added

Mr Christie went on to say that he had been inundated by people mistaking hoverflies for Asian hornets but urged people not to ignore anything which they thought looked suspicious.

‘I don’t want to deter people from reporting what might be an Asian hornet but I would ask people to look at pictures of both species online to see what the differences are.’

The Asian hornet was introduced into Europe in 2004 and has since spread throughout France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. It arrived in Jersey in August 2016, and in the following year 17 nests were discovered and destroyed. A total of 55 nests were destroyed in 2018.

Asian hornet sightings can be reported to a dedicated Asian hornet watch app, by email to asianhornet@gov.je, ideally attaching a photo of what you have seen, or by calling Mr Christie on 441633.

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