The Island’s team of Asian-hornet trackers, who are supported by the Growth, Housing and Environment Department, recently launched a recruitment drive to find volunteers to help them simplify the process of tracking hornets back to their nests.
Jersey’s Asian hornet co-ordinator, Alastair Christie, said that several new members had joined the team and begun their training. Mr Christie said the new recruits ‘did really well’ during their time outdoors at Rue de l’Orme in St Martin last week, which saw them get to grips with the essential aspects of tracking the invasive species.
The seven-strong ‘highly committed’ recruits were shown how to use bait stations, mark hornets and track them to their nests, under the guidance of the group’s more experienced volunteers.
Alongside the group last week was Dr Peter Kennedy, an expert researcher from the University of Exeter, who showed Mr Christie how to use radio telemetry to track hornets. The process involves pinning a live hornet to a specially prepared Perspex stage before a transmitter is tied on with Kevlar thread. The hornet is placed inside a flight cage to check that it can still fly, at which point it is released into the field to be tracked via a radio receiver.
Meanwhile, Islanders are being warned to beware of Asian hornets when gardening or preparing for the branchage, after a number of nests were discovered close to the ground. Nests have been found in bramble patches as well as in the ground and under shrubbery in locations including Howard Davis Park and St Brelade.
