If Asian hornets were to spread across Ireland it would be a “disaster” for bees and biodiversity in general, one expert has said.
On Thursday, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) confirmed it had located an Asian hornet nest in Cork city.
Frankie de Dobbelaere, a member of the Louth Beekeepers Association, has completed a hornet eradication course in Belgium and worked with other beekeepers to track hornets in the Netherlands.
Ms de Dobbelaere said that if the hornets spread, it would be a “disaster”.
READ MORE
“It’s not only a concern for beekeepers, but also for our biodiversity – because one such nest can consume up to 12 or more kilograms of insects."
She told The Irish Times Asian hornets primarily feed on bees because they are “easy prey” and often “concentrated” in one area, but they will also eat other insects.
An Asian hornets’ nest can contain hundreds or thousands of hornets, she said, noting that one found in Belgium last November contained 1,700 hornets.
In the coming months hornets will emerge from their nests and, once they mate, the males will die. The queens, if they have enough food, will survive and “search for a place to hibernate, and might find a new nest”, Ms de Dobbelaere said.
The insect, native to southeast Asia, has spread through continental Europe. It kills honeybees and wild bees, with control efforts ongoing in the UK to prevent the establishment of colonies there.
The sighting of an Asian hornet in Cork earlier this month triggered the creation of a taskforce to co-ordinate the State response.
Christopher O’Sullivan, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, said Asian hornets pose “a significant threat to pollinators”.
“While this finding is worrying, international experience shows that if we act quickly we can prevent this destructive species from establishing in Ireland,” Mr O’Sullivan said in a statement.
It is not yet clear how these hornets arrived in Cork but, in other European countries, some hornets arrived in shipments from Asia.
Áinle Ní Bhriain, chair of the NPWS Asian Hornet Management Group, said it is likely the hornets “came in on a ship” – either via cargo or a ferry.
“The little hornet might have tucked itself inside the roof rack [of a car] or underneath the wheel arch, thinking, ‘Well, there’s a nice place I can hibernate’.”
Ms Ní Bhriain said the nest in Cork was discovered on Wednesday afternoon. A risk assessment was taking place on Thursday to determine the best way to remove the nest, prior to it being examined and destroyed.
“Obviously, we want to remove it intact so that we can examine it and learn from it,” Ms Ní Bhriain said.
“What state of development is it at? Are they still only building the nest, or are there eggs inside it? That kind of stuff is really vital, because this is the first instance of finding a hornet’s nest in Ireland.”
Ms Ní Bhriain said it was not yet clear how many hornets were in the nest. She said the nest itself was “about the size of a football” and “looks like brown papier-mâché”, meaning it’s “very well camouflaged”.
She said the NPWS is hoping the nest in Cork is the only one in Ireland. There was one other potential sighting of a single hornet in Dublin, though there is currently no indication of a nest in the capital, Ms Ní Bhriain said.
If a member of the public thinks they see a hornet, they should photograph it if possible and contact the NPWS or the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
“If they could give a photograph, so much the better, because we can identify very, very quickly that it is a hornet or it isn’t a hornet,” Ms Ní Bhriain said.
The Asian hornet is generally not aggressive but may sting if provoked, so people should not approach them. Such hornets are often confused with non-invasive species such as the giant woodwasp, the dark giant horsefly and the common wasp.
Asian hornets are also known as yellow-legged hornets due to the distinctive yellow or orange colouring on their legs and part of their abdomen.
