John de Carteret, who is vice-president of the Jersey Beekeepers’ Association, has been monitoring the movement and behaviour of the species ever since they were first spotted in the Island in 2016.
Asian hornets pose a long-term problem for the production of local crops because they are understood to prey on all pollinators up to dragon-fly size.
Two weeks ago Asian hornet queens emerged from hibernation in Jersey to begin building ‘start-up nests’ – which are about the same size as a golf ball. Five of these primary nests have so far been discovered, of which three have been destroyed.
Mr de Carteret is working with a team of volunteers, including fellow beekeeper Bob Hogge, to monitor the remaining two known nests – both of which are in St Saviour – including making a video diary of one of the nests.
‘I’ve been making a video diary and I started off putting the videos on my Facebook page and on the Jersey Beekeepers’ Association Facebook page to help collate as much information on Asian hornets as possible,’ he said.
‘However, the Jersey Beekeepers’ Association has 100 members and only about 30 of them are on social media.
‘Secondly, I have had a lot of interest from academics and scientists in the UK and Spain who are actively engaged in research to combat Asian hornets, asking me to put these videos on YouTube.
‘So I sat down last week and created a YouTube channel called the Jersey Asian Hornet Diary.’
He added: ‘There is little known about the habits of these creatures – none of this has been recorded before. This channel will help researchers observe Asian hornets’ patterns of behaviour – the Asian hornet queen building the nest and, in particular, the growth of the hornet larvae as they transform into the hornet creatures that emerge.’
Mr de Carteret – who along with Mr Hogge and the other volunteers passes on all the information they collate at nest sites to the Environment Department – has reached day 20 of his video diary.
‘The academics and scientists from the UK and Spain have expressed an interest in me maintaining the YouTube channel now that I have created it,’ he added.
Last week Jersey’s Lieutenant-Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, made an unofficial visit to the two Asian hornet start-up nests in St Saviour, after accepting an invitation from beekeeper Bob Hogge.
‘His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor [Air Chief Marshal] Sir Stephen Dalton was hosted by myself and Bob on Tuesday after accepting an invite from Bob. His Excellency came to the two nests that we are monitoring in St Saviour and it was lovely to see him taking such an interest in the work.’
Mr de Carteret is the subject of the JEP Saturday Interview.
