UK Beekeepers Demand National Asian Hornet Campaign — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) trustee Lucie Chaumeton called for a government-led national awareness campaign, warning Asian hornets are viewed as a "beekeeping issue" rather than a threat to national biodiversity involving the whole country.
- The National Bee Unit (NBU) destroyed a record 161 Asian hornet nests in 2025, while nearly 30,000 public reports submitted in 2024 led to the identification of just 24 nests — a ratio Chaumeton said shows eradication cannot rest on volunteers alone.
- Genetic analysis of 2024 nests confirmed that queens successfully mated, survived winter and established new colonies the following spring, providing the first evidence the species is becoming established in Britain rather than merely arriving each year.
- The government completed a risk assessment on Asian hornets in 2011, prompting Defra and the Welsh government to develop a contingency plan centred on destroying nests to prevent the species becoming established.
- The Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) trialled radio transmitters attached to hornets in 2025 to help locate nests and is testing VespAI, an artificial intelligence system designed to identify Asian hornets visually.
- NBU head Kate Wilson encouraged continued public vigilance, urging sightings to be reported via the Asian Hornet Watch app, noting that yellow-legged hornets cause significant damage to native pollinators including honeybees.
Why it matters: The NBU's record 161 nest destructions in 2025 show the threat is escalating, but genetic analysis of 2024 nests already confirmed queens survived winter and founded new colonies — evidence of establishment. With eradication dependent on roughly 30,000 annual public reports, the beekeepers' push for a national campaign is aimed at the narrow window before the species becomes permanently embedded across Britain.
Ask SkimNews
